Just outside Atlanta sits the city of Sandy Springs, Ga., a community that, on its surface, looks a lot like many others. But if you look at a little bit closer at how the city’s government works, you’ll find a remarkably different model of efficiency that stands apart from the rest. Reason.com explains: While cities across the country are cutting services, raising taxes and contemplating bankruptcy, something extraordinary is happening in a suburban community just north of Atlanta, Georgia.
Over the past two weeks, you have relentlessly engaged in dishonest, deceptive and factually incorrect critiques of Heritage’s recent analysis of the Ryan budget plan, and they need to be addressed. With all of the work good people of every political stripe need to be doing in Washington today, the last thing we all have time for is correcting your typically contrived commentary. But when The New York Times gives you such a platform to spread distortions, they necessitate a response. You’ve laid out several claims about Heritage’s macroeconomic analysis …
Two weeks ago, the U.S. Sentencing Commission promulgated a permanent amendment to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines that reduces jail time for those convicted of offenses related to crack cocaine. Liberals would love to portray the new drug sentencing standard for crack cocaine as a success story, in which the Obama administration undid a draconian Reagan-era drug policy. Critics are unduly harsh on Ronald Reagan’s drug policy, blaming the Great Communicator for driving the hysteria in the 1980s which led to the enactment of unfair criminal drug laws. However, liberals might …
U.S. taxpayers will spend $431 billion just complying with the tax code this year, according a new study by Arthur Laffer, Wayne Winegarden, and John Childs. That’s not money collected by the Internal Revenue Service; that figure represents just the value of the time taxpayers will spend keeping records and filling out tax forms, and the cost of paying professional tax preparers to do it for them, plus the cost of the bureaucracy needed to administer the tax code. That $431 billion amounts to 30 percent of the total of income taxes …
It appears that Georgia Governor Nathan Deal will sign legislation passed by the Georgia House and Senate that adopts the Arizona SB 1070 framework for controlling illegal immigration. With the influx of 425,000 illegal immigrants into Georgia over the last two decades, this two-pronged legislation will help curb that flow. The two elements of the Georgia legislation involve permitting law enforcement to check the legal status of individuals they stop and requiring the use of the E-Verify system for businesses with more than 10 employees. Unlike Arizona’s SB 1070 “reasonable …
In May, Congress will begin debate on our nation’s debt limit. The debt limit is an alarm bell built into our nation’s laws, which forces members of Congress to confront out-of-control spending when our debt reaches a certain level. Five times in the last four years, we have ignored this alarm bell. This time must be different. It would irresponsible and reckless for them to even consider raising the limit without also enacting spending cuts and reform. The nation’s credit worthiness is directly tied to our fiscal stewardship, not our …
It’s a hard rain that’s been a-fallin’ on Bob Dylan from some blustery climes. This is because the 69-year-old folk-rock icon supposedly broke the sellout meter with a Chinese concert debut in which he performed songs approved in advance by the Communist regime. Not that it’s Dylan’s job to stand up to dictators, tyrants and thugs — whether visiting their countries or hosting them at home and, say, the United Nations. Last time we looked, that was President Obama’s gig. Writing this week on Chinese authorities’ most severe crackdown on …
This is part three in a debate with liberal blogger Tim Mitchell on whether income inequality is a problem. In part one I laid out why income inequality isn’t a problem. In part two I refuted arguments made by Mr. Mitchell. In this post I show why Mr. Mitchell’s arguments continue to fall short. For part one from Mr. Mitchell, click here. For part two from him, click here. For part three from him, click here. The fundamental point about income inequality remains: All income groups have made solid economic …
Last week, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov caused a stir among the U.S. and European proponents of missile defenses. Talking about the Obama Administration’s recent proposal for the Russian participation in the Phased Adaptive Approach, a missile defense plan for Europe and the United States, Ivanov bluntly stated that the Russian Federation “insist[s] on only one thing: that we’re an equal part of [U.S. missile defense system in Europe].” To make absolutely clear what Ivanov means, he elaborated: “In practical terms, that means our office will sit, for …
As Tax Day arrives, families across the country are reluctantly pulling out purses and wallets to cut a hefty check to Uncle Sam. While the annual pain of paying federal income taxes is far from pleasant, married families can take comfort in the fact that they are probably better off financially than their single counterparts. Even among families with only one working spouse, married households fare far better than those headed by single men and women. On average, a single man will only make two-thirds the annual income of a …
