Business & Economics
Business & Economics
Charity’s Unseen Benefit: It Protects Civil Society From The State
Charities and other nonprofit institutions perform a vast array of altruistic works yielding benefits for both the direct beneficiaries and for society writ large. Most such activities are obvious: medical services for the indigent, educational services for the disadvantaged, support for the arts, and the like. But such organizations serve ...
Business & Economics
Policy Analytics of the Tax Treatment of Charitable Contributions
San Francisco The Pacific Research Institute, a free-market think tank based in San Francisco today released the new report Policy Analytics of the Tax Treatment of Charitable Contributions authored by economist and PRI senior fellow Benjamin Zycher, Ph.D. Current proposals in Washington to change the favorable tax treatment ...
Agriculture
Ruling risks interstate water pacts
A “neighborhood” dispute between Oklahoma and Texas could upset decades of water agreements that have facilitated the nation’s urban, agricultural and industrial growth. At issue in Tarrant Regional Water District v. Herrmann is Oklahoma’s refusal to allow Texas to draw water to which it is entitled under the Red River ...
Commentary
Congress should put Medicare out of its misery now
As Republican leaders in Congress prepare to negotiate over the federal budget with their Democratic counterparts in the aftermath of the election, its time for everyone to face a hard truth we must end Medicare as we know it. The entitlement is bleeding to death. Without major changes, it ...
Business & Economics
Corporate Income Tax Elasticity: How Republicans Can Have Lower Tax Rates and Democrats Can Collect More Tax Revenue!
When the government increases tax rates, it assumes that it will collect more tax revenue dollars. Generally, this is the case. But there may well be an important exception that occurs because of the elasticity of taxation. Despite the presence of many contaminating variables, a persistent pattern is present in ...
Business & Economics
Fiscal mess deeper than ‘cliff’
To paraphrase Samuel Johnson, nothing focuses the mind like a crisis. And, perhaps that is why the political class continually manufactures fiscal crises. The manufactured crises can be used to focus the collective political mind and help solve the underlying fiscal problem. The fiscal cliff the tax increases and ...
Business & Economics
Deep Reform, Not Window Dressing, for a Cooler, Cleaner California
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) wants car companies to install metallic reflective windows, which regulators believe will reduce energy use and fight global warming. Though possibly well intentioned this plan amounts only to window dressing. Legislators should pursue deeper environmental reforms with more benefits and fewer disadvantages. CARB believes ...
Business & Economics
The Crusade Against Plastic Bags
KEY POINTS An ever-growing number of municipalities are instituting bans on plastic grocery bags in the name of environmental protection; Studies are mixed regarding whether or not such bans offer significant environmental benefits, but claims of rampant environmental harms are suspect; Proponents of bag-bans omit the most important consideration, which ...
Business & Economics
New Report on Controlling Rising Government Compensation Costs
New Report on Controlling Rising Government Compensation Costs The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in San Francisco, today released a new report providing policy reforms to help control the rising compensation costs of state government employees. The report Policy Reforms to Control Rising Government Compensation Costs ...
Business & Economics
To cut state prison budget, start with perks for guards
California’s voters will soon consider two ballot initiatives that aim to reduce the state’s unsustainable spending on prisons. The cost of jail is punishing and not just for the prisoners. Incarcerating an inmate runs an average of $47,000 a year. That figure certainly is not chump change, but the ...
Charity’s Unseen Benefit: It Protects Civil Society From The State
Charities and other nonprofit institutions perform a vast array of altruistic works yielding benefits for both the direct beneficiaries and for society writ large. Most such activities are obvious: medical services for the indigent, educational services for the disadvantaged, support for the arts, and the like. But such organizations serve ...
Policy Analytics of the Tax Treatment of Charitable Contributions
San Francisco The Pacific Research Institute, a free-market think tank based in San Francisco today released the new report Policy Analytics of the Tax Treatment of Charitable Contributions authored by economist and PRI senior fellow Benjamin Zycher, Ph.D. Current proposals in Washington to change the favorable tax treatment ...
Ruling risks interstate water pacts
A “neighborhood” dispute between Oklahoma and Texas could upset decades of water agreements that have facilitated the nation’s urban, agricultural and industrial growth. At issue in Tarrant Regional Water District v. Herrmann is Oklahoma’s refusal to allow Texas to draw water to which it is entitled under the Red River ...
Congress should put Medicare out of its misery now
As Republican leaders in Congress prepare to negotiate over the federal budget with their Democratic counterparts in the aftermath of the election, its time for everyone to face a hard truth we must end Medicare as we know it. The entitlement is bleeding to death. Without major changes, it ...
Corporate Income Tax Elasticity: How Republicans Can Have Lower Tax Rates and Democrats Can Collect More Tax Revenue!
When the government increases tax rates, it assumes that it will collect more tax revenue dollars. Generally, this is the case. But there may well be an important exception that occurs because of the elasticity of taxation. Despite the presence of many contaminating variables, a persistent pattern is present in ...
Fiscal mess deeper than ‘cliff’
To paraphrase Samuel Johnson, nothing focuses the mind like a crisis. And, perhaps that is why the political class continually manufactures fiscal crises. The manufactured crises can be used to focus the collective political mind and help solve the underlying fiscal problem. The fiscal cliff the tax increases and ...
Deep Reform, Not Window Dressing, for a Cooler, Cleaner California
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) wants car companies to install metallic reflective windows, which regulators believe will reduce energy use and fight global warming. Though possibly well intentioned this plan amounts only to window dressing. Legislators should pursue deeper environmental reforms with more benefits and fewer disadvantages. CARB believes ...
The Crusade Against Plastic Bags
KEY POINTS An ever-growing number of municipalities are instituting bans on plastic grocery bags in the name of environmental protection; Studies are mixed regarding whether or not such bans offer significant environmental benefits, but claims of rampant environmental harms are suspect; Proponents of bag-bans omit the most important consideration, which ...
New Report on Controlling Rising Government Compensation Costs
New Report on Controlling Rising Government Compensation Costs The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in San Francisco, today released a new report providing policy reforms to help control the rising compensation costs of state government employees. The report Policy Reforms to Control Rising Government Compensation Costs ...
To cut state prison budget, start with perks for guards
California’s voters will soon consider two ballot initiatives that aim to reduce the state’s unsustainable spending on prisons. The cost of jail is punishing and not just for the prisoners. Incarcerating an inmate runs an average of $47,000 a year. That figure certainly is not chump change, but the ...
