Here's an upcoming schedule of some very important property rights bills that will be considered in the House:
Eminent Domain Amendment
When and Where: Tomorrow, 10:00 am, 415 LOB
House Appropriations Subcommittee on Justice and Public Safety
HB…
Many of the national health care reform measures currently under debate in Congress have been in place since 2006 in the state of Massachusetts. Major reform was implemented that year in a bipartisan fashion with a Republican governor and a…
Senator Udall held a town hall meeting today in Albuquerque, and I asked him an important question about the the cap-and-trade bill (Waxman-Markey) that has already passed in the House and will be voted on in the Senate.
During last year’s campaign, then-Senator Obama acknowledged that his cap-and-trade plan would necessarily cause energy costs says to “skyrocket.” What’s worse, though, is that as proposed, Waxman-Markey will have an even greater impact on energy costs than Obama’s plan.
If we’re going to be placing such a heavy burden on Americans, there ought be a substantial benefit. Unfortunately, using our government’s own climate model, analysis by the Cato Institute projects that Waxman-Markey alone would only reduce global temperatures 0.07°F by 2050, and 0.2°F by 2100.
At the town hall meeting, I asked Senator Udall if he supported the bill, and if so, how he justified all of the bill’s economic pain for the tiny environmental gain. Senator Udall ignored the ‘economic pain’ aspect, and instead spoke about the importance of reducing foreign oil dependence and making New Mexico a center for renewable energy.
It’s convenient, as Senator Udall has done, to ignore such ugly consequences and instead frame the bill as a green job creator. But even then, such claims are misleading. The bill is not simply just creating new green jobs–it’s doing so at the expense of other jobs.
The short list of “critical, non-controversial” measures Governor Paterson has sent the deadlocked state Senate for possible action tonight includes a bill authorizing Nassau County to issue bonds to finance early retirement incentives for county employees. Pursuant to an agreement between County Executive Thomas Suozzi and his local Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), the county [...]
A new study by two professors at the University of California, Berkeley argues that when assessing the environmental impacts of a transportation system, one should include life cycle costs of infrastructure, fuel production and supply chains, not just the simple…
In a recent letter to the Boston Herald, BHI Koch Summer Fellow Andrew Dabrowski thinks more rules don’t make for better rules. The Herald’s criticism of the new financial regulation package simply…
Lynch said the budget “reduces general fund spending, protects essential services without an income tax, a sales tax or an increase in the gas tax, but by closing loopholes.”
He expressed confidence that the courts will side with an Attorney General’s Office opinion that state government is entitled to $110 million in medical malpractice funds that help balance the budget.
These photos show the special parking at the new Best Buy store in Waynesville, NC. No one was parking in these spots, it is WNC where snow is common in the winter and a lot of folks need four wheel drive to get around on mountain roads, so do these spots create any value?
The list below includes all fees passed so far this year. The bulk of them were passed as part of the budget. The list does not include fines for illegal activity. Fines are not charges designed to generate revenue for services but rather a punitive device. Each individual fee is listed but not every charge is listed as a separate fee. For example, although Health Facility Licensure Fees were increased on 23 different types of facilities, it is most reasonably described as one fee.
The 38 tax and fee increases are categorized into the ten tax increases and 28 fees although the distinction between a tax, a fee, and a charge is blurry and probably of little importance to the one paying.
2009: Thirty Eight Tax and Fee Increases. Ten tax changes and the three largest registration fees account for 88% of the $318.6M cost. In 2007, lawmakers raised 32 taxes and fees.
Or head tax. Or something.
I've read this column five times and can only conclude hackers are to blame. The last thing North Carolina needs is further attempts to game the property tax system, an imperfect levy to say the least, but one with its roots in the very formation of civil society.
The property tax has never…