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...
As Satchel Paige famously said, “Don’t look back — something might be gaining on you.” That’s a lesson Texas should take to heart in its upcoming legislative session. Its low-tax policies have made it the nation’s jobs engine for years, but other states are catching on — and maybe even catching up. Texas will need...
The Foundation’s latest research, The Production Tax Credit: Corporate Subsidies & Renewable Energy, shows that wind energy generators received more than $25 billion in tax credits from 2007-2016. Of that, 76 percent—or $19.4 billion—went to only 15 companies. Those companies have a combined market cap of more than $500 billion. See the chart below. It...
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...
The coming year could be a watershed moment for energy policy in the United States. The infamous Production Tax Credit (PTC), a federal subsidy for renewable energy, is set to expire, marking a potential step toward more reliable energy, a freer market and a change in the energy production landscape for the better — should...
Election Day is near and it’ll soon be time for voters to decide on the most contentious issues of the moment: which politicians to elect, what propositions to pass, and how much, if any, new debt to approve. Every voter has to make up his or her own mind on the ballot questions before them....
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...
With the midterm elections on the horizon, some gubernatorial and state congressional candidates are advocating Medicare-for-All, Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sander’s universal health care legislation. Even some candidates in traditionally red states are touting “free healthcare.” But the candidates dance around Medicare-for-All’s two fatal flaws: its astronomical price tag and inevitable worsening of the doctor shortage. Medicare-for-All claims...
The Texas Model that includes a relatively modest level of taxation has allowed the state to remain a leader nationwide in economic prosperity. This reputation, however, is not guaranteed; each session demands fiscally sound decisions in Austin. If legislators wish to continue this success, they should take steps in the 2019 session to pass a...
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...
California, with 39.5 million people, and Texas, with 28.3 million, are two of America’s four majority-minority states, the other two being Hawaii and New Mexico. As such, the education systems’ effectiveness in the two most diverse states that 1-in-5 Americans calls home is of vital interest to the rest of the nation. Because of the...