|
1) Policy Focus of the Week: MN2020's Imaginary Tax Rankings
2) The David Strom Show
3) Sign up for one of our Action eLists and get a free pocket constitution!
4) Health Care Legislation is fundamentally flawed
5) "Yes, I'm Still A Conservative, Damnit! An Evening with P.J. O'Rourke.
1) Policy Focus of the Week: Minnesota 2020's Imaginary Tax Rankings
In the wake of Tax Freedom Day, Saturday April 12, with fiscal conservatives rallying at the state capitol for lower taxes, the local mainstream media found liberal thinktank Minnesota 2020, headed by former State Representative and Gubernatorial candidate Matt Entenza ready to oblige with a contrary view. In his comments, Entenza claimed that Minnesota's tax burden was below average and ranked "32nd" in the nation. According to the latest numbers from the Minnesota House Department of Revenue,Minnesota's per capita state and local tax burden ranks 12th in the nation, and as a percentage of personal income Minnesota ranks 20th. Total tax collections per capita are about 10 percent above the national average.
(http://www.taxes.state.mn.us/legal_policy/research_reports/content/02_Table_Summary_Tax_SL.pdf)
The House Department of Revenue numbers are in line with a similar report released by the Minnesota House of Representatives Fiscal Analysis Department in January.
(http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/fiscal/files/08taxrankings.pdf)
The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax research group based in Washington, D.C., which calculates tax burdens comparing states, presents slightly different numbers that indicate that Minnesotans rank 8th in total tax burden. Tax Foundation numbers include the Federal tax burden in addition to the state burden.
- The Minnesota Free Market Institute put out a press release responding to Entenza's remarks which you can read here.
- Craig Westover responded to another bit of Tax Freedom Day fluffery by Minnesota 2020 fellow Jeff Van Wychenin a short post here.
2) The David Strom Show
The David Strom Show sponsored by the Minnesota Free Market Institute is broadcast weekly on AM 1280 The Patriot Saturdays 9-11 A.M. Podcasts of the show are available at Townhall.com and also directly via iTunes. (See our radio show page for details). The show is now downloaded over 11,000 times a month!
Last Saturday's show was a replay of two recent author interviews. Mark Steyn's America Alone has just come out in paperback and Mickey Edwards' Reclaiming Conservatism, are both controversial books in distinct ways. Steyn's book argues that demographic trends and cultural trends are going to culminate in the decline of the west and western values. Former Congressman Mickey Edwards's book argues that Conservativism has lost its way and should be more constitutional and civil libertarian in outlook. (For a counterpoint, see David's interview with Grover Norquist the following week.)
To find out on Thursday who will be on this week's show, sign up for our action e-list and check the RADIO box.
Upcoming guests: 4/26 Robert P. Murphy author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism; 5/3 Our monthly Econ 101 with Prof. King Banaian. 5/10 Don Eberly The Rise of Global Civil Society.
3) Sign up for one of our Action eLists and get a free pocket constitution!
Visit http://www.minnesotafreemarkets.org/ and click Join! on the toolbar to sign up for one of our elists. Everyone with a mailing address in our database by May 31 will get a free copy of the Cato Pocket Constitution mailed to that address.
We have four lists to choose from
- Updates is a subscription to this weekly update. (One email per week)
- Radio will get you an advance look at who will be on The David Strom Show this Saturday. (One email per week)
- Columns will get you all columns published by Free Market Institute Fellows as they are published.
- The Media list will get press releases issued by the Minnesota Free Market Institute
[Note: If you have never signed up on our site before and have received this email directly (not fowarded from a friend) leave the fields blank when the site asks you to "verify" your name. If you are already receiving this email directly you are subscribed by your email address to our updates list but we may not have your mailing address on file. Click the "join" tab to register.]
4) Health Care Legislation is fundamentally flawed
According to the Star Tribune, Gov. Tim Pawlenty met Monday morning with lawmakers and told them he is concerned that legislation now before a conference committee to revamp Minnesota's health might actually drive up costs instead of cutting them. Normally the Governor's show of fiscal caution would be refreshing. However, the genesis of this reform legislation is the Governor's Health Care Transformation Task Force Report, which is a giant leap toward corporate socialism and government control of health care. The bill is not, as the governor says, "flexible" or "fixable."
The premise of the legislation is that greedy doctors providing unnecessary and low quality health care and the unhealthy lifestyles of the rest of us are the primary causes of high health care costs. Thus, the focus of cost reduction in the bill is controlling the behavior of doctors through "payment reform" and the behaviors of the rest of us by subjecting our unhealthy lifestyles to scrutiny by schools, community organizations, health plans and state agencies. Minnesota Free Market Institute analysis can be found in the Health Care Policy section of our website, specifically here and here. The transformation taskforce report is not a starting place for reform, it's a deadend.
5) "Yes, I'm Still a Conservative Damnit." An Evening with P.J. O'Rourke.
On Tuesday April 29th, at 7:00 P.M., Best Selling Author and America's leading Political Satirist P.J. O'Rourke will be appearing at The University of Minnesota's Northrop Auditorium. The Event will be Free and open to the public. The Minnesota Free Market Institute is co-sponsoring the event with CFact (Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow) and a host of other organizations. For more information visit http://www.cfact-umn.blogspot.com/.
The Minnesota Free Market Institute conducts research and advocates for policy that limits government involvement in individual affairs and promotes competition and consumer choice. By analyzing the actions of the past and applying the enduring lessons of the free market, the Minnesota Free Market Institute creates policy options for the future. The Minnesota Free Market Institute accepts PayPal! To donate click here.
|
