The Tax Foundation published a paper this month on Gross Receipts Taxes which they characterize as tax pyramiding and just how unfair they are. They made one mention of Hawaii in the paper.
Delaware, New Mexico and Hawaii each levy taxes commonly referred to as “gross receipts taxes,” but which incorporate elements of both sales and gross receipts taxes.
In other words we get the worst of both worlds.
The state of Massachusetts is holding PB along with Bechtel primarily responsible for the ceiling failure that killed a woman.
The state suit says at all relevant times B/PB were fully responsible for (a) “overall management, coordination and interfacing of all design and construction projects” and (b) “quality assurance including implementing actions necessary to assure that work and products satisfied requirements for quality.” (par 25)
Are we really sure we want this company to design our rail project?
This Harvard study on rail concludes rail won’t get people out of their cars or induce denser development.
Every objective study has shown the bogus nature of rail promoters claims for supposed external benefits of government subsidies for rail, so this is just another in a long line of scholarship on the subject.
Link to whole report here (pdf) and summary here.
Hat Tip: Tollroadsnews.info
This is a classic example of unintended consequences.
[T]he increased large-scale production of biofuel feedstocks, particularly corn and soybeans, and the emissions of growing number of ethanol and biodiesel refineries are also posing new threats to the environment in the U.S. Midwest and Mississippi Valley.In addition, subsidisation is adding to concerns of growing competition between food and fuel production. By shifting the balance in favour of the latter, world food prices are likely to increase, with potentially devastating results for poor populations, particularly overseas, that depend on food aid or cheap imports, according to the report.
The whole biofuels industry is starting to damage the economy and environment in ways we never could have imagined. We should re-think ethanol here in Hawaii.
Whole article here.
This study comes from the Cato Institute. It rates governors on a scale of spending and taxation increases or decreases.
The report card’s grading is based on 23 objective measures of fiscal performance. Governors who have cut taxes and spending the most receive the highest grades. Those who have increased spending and taxes the most receive the lowest grades.
Only one governor got a “A” while our governor, Linda Lingle, received a “D” and nine governors received a “F”.
The summary is here, an HTML list of all governors is here and this is a (PDF) of the full report.
Hat Tip: Out of Control
This is how the game is played:
Rather than get rid of inefficient routes and shape up its operations, Amtrak’s management has been giving grants to the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP), which lobbies for more federal spending on Amtrak.
That is just one example. Then there is this:
An even more disturbing case is that of the OECD, which not only lobbies for more U.S. taxpayer dollars but also for increasing taxes on U.S. citizens. . . The U.S. provides about a quarter of the almost $400 million OECD budget. . . [T]he OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) has recommended the U.S. adopt a Value Added Tax (VAT) and increase at least a dozen other taxes.
And finally:
Veronique de Rugy of the American Enterprise Institute noted: “It is rather ironic that OECD bureaucrats receive tax-free salaries, yet they consistently endorse higher taxes, both in America and around the world.” All citizens should be concerned when both U.S. and non-U.S. citizens use taxpayer dollars to directly lobby for increasing the burden on U.S. taxpayers.
The whole article here.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has a new website. It is a searchable database that let’s you figure out where your federal tax dollars are being spent. It is just up and it will take a while to learn how to navigate it, but this is an important development. (don)
Cliff Slater and the rest of the gang over at Honolulu Traffic.com have the latest on what will be the real cost of rail transit on this island.
“We have a new article containing a spreadsheet with the $4 billion initial estimate for building rail, upgraded 25 percent to $5 billion to allow for cost overruns, and adding reasonable estimates for bond interest charges and operating losses. When the tax expires we owe $6 billion.”
The website shouldn’t be missed, here and then the article on the rail is here.
Arnold Kling at TechCentralStation makes no bones about being a Libertarian. While we at GRIH try not to embrace any explicit political philosophy this article by Kling examines the thought processes that many of us have gone through to arrive where we are today.
Kling notes:
My undergraduate economics professor, the late Bernie Saffran, exposed students to a variety of viewpoints, from Marxist to libertarian. But he revelled in showing us cases where policy intentions conflicted with policy results. The point that self-interest in a market context can lead to good outcomes, while good intentions in government regulation can lead to bad outcomes, was driven home.
In other words, individual freedom and free markets work better than government regulation and interference.
I’m just going to link to this because there is too much on the blog to detail. For a long time John was in China and didn’t blog much and in the last week or two he has made up for the previous lack. If you have any interest in China and the way economics is unfolding there (and I know we have a number among our members who are precisely interested in this area) then you aren’t going to want to miss what John has to say. I wish I could go to China, sounds fascinating.
Link.
If it goes past the end of September you will have to access the archives.