As the worst unrest to grip France in 50 years rages on, triggered by a pending climate change fuel tax (since postponed), President Macron announced a slate of measures designed to appease the masses. Included in the government giveaways: a minimum wage hike of about $1.75 an hour, no taxes on overtime pay and reforming...
As early as Dec. 20, the Public Utility Commission of Texas may vote to increase electricity costs on consumers by up to $4 billion. Meanwhile, in California, that state’s PUC is considering a “tax” on text messages to the tune of $45 million per year and may even apply the “Public Purpose Program” fee retroactively, raising an additional one-time...
The City of Lights, Paris, has been illuminated in recent days by cars set alight by thousands of protesting “Yellow Vests”—largely middle class people who earn their living by driving or who commute to get to work. The cause of their ire is a scheduled 25 cents-per-gallon increase in gas taxes, and about 10 cents...
As taxpayers and citizens, we expect our Federal Government to responsibly use its resources and to be responsive to the will of the people as expressed in elections. But all too frequently, the bureaucracy — the administrative state — churns on with its agenda, untouched by mere elected officials or appointees of the administration. This...
California’s politicians, bureaucrats, electric utilities and even celebrities have taken to using “climate change” as a multipurpose excuse for having done nothing to prevent deadly wildfires. Doing nothing, at least nothing effective, has been a central public policy feature in the climate change debate, especially when it comes to wildfires. The facts are clear: California’s deadliest year...
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y., offered Amazon $1.5 billion in corporate cronyism tax breaks, saying, “It’s not a level playing field to begin with. All things being equal, if we do nothing, they’re going to Texas.” State and local taxes matter. After the historic tax cut passed with President Trump’s signature last December, they matter even...
At least 63 people have been killed with 631 reported missing in the California fires as thousands of firefighters, including 200 sent from Texas as well as other states, battle to contain the blazes. More than 7,000 structures have been destroyed, including up to 90 percent of the homes in Paradise, population 26,682, in Northern...
Every month U.S. employers hire nearly 2.5 million new workers as they start new businesses or expand existing ones. But about 2.2 million workers are also laid off, quit or retire, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This churning of employees being hired and separated is a good thing for the economy, even...
Yesterday, voters in San Francisco approved a $300 million-per-year tax on business earmarked to help the city’s burgeoning homeless population, estimated to number about 7,000 in a city of 884,000. The measure will likely suffer from a double backfire in that it will result in more homelessness while shrinking the city’s tax base. San Francisco’s...
In an interview with Axios on HBO, President Donald Trump discussed his plans to discontinue the practice of automatically granting U.S. citizenship to all babies born on U.S. soil. “It was always told to me that you needed a constitutional amendment. Guess what? You don’t,” the President said. “You can definitely do it with an...
Continuing a series of California and Texas comparisons, this piece examines the two most-populous states’ housing policies. California and Texas have a lot in common; they’re both big and diverse. It’s politics (and the public policy that results) that most separate these two states. But in one area, housing, Texas is increasingly in danger of...
Continuing a series of California and Texas comparisons, this piece examines the two most-populous states’ key wellbeing indicators. More than one in every five Americans calls California or Texas home. For decades, California has been America’s bellwether—if you don’t believe it, just ask Californians. From Hollywood to Silicon Valley to the state’s politicians and public...