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New Study Suggests Transportation Priorities for North Carolina

April 3, 2013, 2:45pm

Baruch Feigenbaum

The Hartgen Group and the Reason Foundation have released Transportation Priorities for North Carolina, a report recommending several significant changes to North Carolina’s transportation management process. The report for Governor Patrick McCrory and the North Carolina General Assembly recommend several changes to North Carolina's management process. North Carolina has a great opportunity to make major positive changes to its transportation system.

Solving the Parking Problem in DuPont Circle

March 29, 2013, 8:47am

Ike Brannon

The DuPont Circle neighborhood of DC offers subsidized street parking. When a local politician suggested charging rates closet to market prices, his constituents rebelled. Yet charging market prices would be an effective solution for this neighborhood.

Unmasking the Mortgage Interest Deduction - Update 2012

Who Benefits and By How Much?
December 12, 2012

Anthony Randazzo, Dean Stansel

The federal income tax code is riddled with loopholes, deductions and credits designed to promote various social goals and benefit assorted groups of Americans. One of the largest of these is the mortgage interest deduction (MID), which allowed taxpayers to claim benefits of $82.7 billion in 2010, the latest data available. Given the number of recent proposals to change the MID in some way, it is helpful to review which households are claiming the mortgage interest deduction.

In a new policy summary, Reason Foundation offers a update to the 2011 study "Unmasking the Mortgage Interest Deducton" and takes a look at who is currently benefiting from the MID.

Joint Committee on Taxation data shows households making $100,000 or more a year constitute 55 percent of those claiming the MID, and they receive 78 percent of the deduction’s total benefits. The last two columns of our table of the JCT data show the average tax savings that households in each income group receive from the MID, and what those savings represent in monthly savings. For example, the MID saves middle-class households making between $40,000 and $75,000 a year around $80 a month. The MID is not the middle-class savior it is made out to be.

Reason Foundation Supreme Court Amicus Brief: Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District

The Florida Supreme Court's decision violates the takings clause and should be reversed by the Supreme Court
December 1, 2012

The use and enjoyment of private property is a fundamental right, and important to a democratic society. The takings clause was designed to protect this core value.

This Court has long recognized that limitations on the exercise of rights in private property are as much "takings" as are physical invasion of property. Government regulation tends to become ubiquitous, and government constantly develops new and artful ways to appropriate rights to use and enjoy private property for the “public good.” Unless constrained by a requirement to compensate owners of private property, in a majoritarian system, government agencies will allocate disproportionate burdens of achieving public purposes to politically weak segments of the citizenry.

The Florida Supreme Court incorrectly court assumed that in Nollan and Dolan the land-use agencies had issued permits after actually taking the exacted property. In fact, in both Nollan and Dolan the agencies had imposed the exactions prior to issuance of the permits, similar to the case at bar.

 

Atlanta BeltLine's Public Funding Should be Eliminated

November 6, 2012, 4:21pm

Baruch Feigenbaum

Last Friday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution printed my editorial that argued that Atlanta BeltLine Inc. is spending large amounts of public dollars while providing very little in return. BeltLine, Inc. disagreed with my analysis. To counter their argument, I have provided a more detailed analysis of why the BeltLine will not work.

E-Z Pass System on InterCounty Connector is a Curious Target for Smart Growth Group

October 26, 2012, 10:59am

Baruch Feigenbaum

Greater Greater Washington is upset that the Maryland Transportation Authority is encouraging drivers to sign up for EZPass. In GGW's world this is an attempt to increase driving. But Smart Growth advocates should support variable priced toll lanes because these facilities charge commuters the full cost of driving. GGW's viewpoint seems counter to their goals.

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