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What is a loophole?

April 3, 2013

In the Pathology of Privilege, I had this to say about “accelerated depreciation,” an artifact of the corporate tax code that many consider to be a loophole: If income is the base of taxation, it makes sense to allow firms to “write off” expenses necessary to earn that income. For capital items that wear out [...]

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Varying Priorities in Municipal Bankruptcy

April 3, 2013

On Monday Reuters reported that a federal judge has found Stockton, CA to be eligible for bankruptcy protection. This decision came despite protests from Wall Street arguing that the city had options available that would have allowed it to pay its creditors in full, such as raising taxes or cutting benefits for city employees: Creditors have claimed [...]

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Third Edition of Freedom in the 50 States

March 28, 2013

Today the Mercatus Center released the third edition of Freedom in the 50 States by Will Ruger and Jason Sorens. In this new edition, the authors score states on over 200 policy variables. Additionally, they have collected data from 2001 to measure how states’ freedom rankings have changed over the past decade. While several organizations publish state freedom [...]

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Local control over transportation: good in principle but not being practiced

March 25, 2013

State and local governments know their transportation needs better than Washington D.C. But that doesn’t mean that state and local governments are necessarily more efficient or less prone to public choice problems when it comes to funding projects, and some of that is due to the intertwined funding streams that make up a transportation budget. [...]

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Shortfalls in non-profit disaster rebuilding

March 22, 2013

This post originally appeared at Market Urbanism, a blog about free-market urban development. After receiving years of praise for its work in post-Katrina recovery, Brad Pitt’s home building organization, Make It Right, is receiving some media criticism. At the New Republic, Lydia Depillis points out that the Make It Right homes built in the Lower Ninth Ward have resulted in scarce city dollars going [...]

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Governors’ Priorities in 2013: Medicaid Funding, Pension Reform

March 20, 2013

As the month of March draws to a close, most governors have, by this point, taken to the podiums of their respective states and outlined their priorities for the next legislative year in their State of the State addresses. Mike Maciag at Governing magazine painstakingly reviewed the transcripts of all 49 State of the State [...]

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Civil Disobedience and Detroit’s financial manager

March 18, 2013

Michigan’s Governor Rick Synder may be greeted by protestors when he arrives for a meeting today on Detroit’s financial condition. His recent appointment of Kevyn Orr as the city’s emergency financial manager has angered many of Detroit’s residents who are afraid he has powers that are far too sweeping and is thereby destroying local control. [...]

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Why now is a good time to worry about the future

March 14, 2013

There are many smart people who think that deficits are a problem, but not now. Right now, they say, we need growth. And growth, according to standard Keynesian theory, requires higher deficits today. This perspective has three problems. That’s me at US News. Click here to see why I think the “no need to worry [...]

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Implications of an emergency fiscal manager for Detroit

March 6, 2013

Reuters reports that an emergency financial manager might provide Detroit with a path toward bankruptcy. This week I’m at US News writing on how an emergency financial manager might help the city renegotiate the obligations that it cannot afford to pay: An emergency financial manager will have a greater incentive than elected city officials to improve [...]

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Assorted Links

March 6, 2013

China’s Ghost Cities  The Purple Line’s uncertain future Maryland’s new gas tax for transportation Is Maryland copying Virginia’s new sales tax? The Micro-Apartment craze        

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