Budgets and Taxes

The Heartland Institute works with free market-oriented experts to discuss the good and bad of national, state and local government policies in the tax and spending arenas. Topics include income, sales and excise taxes, economic development, targeted tax incentives, government pension and health costs, and other influences on taxes and spending.

We favor policies that reduce the size and power of government and expand choice and freedom for citizens. We oppose government programs and tax regimes that favor some at the expense of others.

There are many approaches to achieving spending and tax reforms that would benefit businesses and individuals. These many ideas can be found here.

Pennsylvania School Pension Burdens Reflected in Tax Requests

Pension problems facing Pennsylvania school districts have come home to roost. As we wrote in a...

Fiscal
Detroit Offers Creditors Pennies on the Dollar

Less than one month after Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr issued a report declaring the city’s...

Insurance

Steve Stanek
Federal Judge Stops Kentucky from Enforcing Anti-Competition Law

A Kentucky state law that requires new moving companies to prove to government bureaucrats there is...

Fiscal
Lower, Flatter, Easier Taxes Proposed in Wisconsin

Wisconsin business owners will get tax cuts and simplified paperwork if a bill sponsored by state...

Fiscal

Mary Petrides Tillotson
Iowa Disability Costs Double in Nine Years—Less than National Average

The number of Iowa workers on disability has increased only slightly during the past nine years,...

Fiscal

Featured Works

The Streetcar Fantasy

10 Principles of State Fiscal Policy

Ten Principles of Federal Tax Policy

Implementing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Ideas

Privatization

The concept of privatization is relatively simple: a shifting of a government-provided service or aspects of it to a private business subject to the rigors of a competitive marketplace. In many cases, similar services are already being provided more efficiently in the private sector. Privatization when done correctly can provide more efficient services and save taxpayers money.
Taxpayer Savings Grants

Originally proposed in Texas in 2011, Taxpayer Savings Grants would reimburse parents for tuition paid for enrollment of children at private schools of their choice in the amount of actual tuition or 60 percent of the state’s average per-pupil maintenance and operations expenditure, whichever is less. Students entering kindergarten or enrolled in a public school for at least one year would be eligible. The Heartland Institute estimates about 6% of public school students would be moved to private schools, saving the state approximately $1 billion a year.
Smoker's Rights

There are about 47 million adult smokers in the U.S. They have been relentlessly demonized by the public health establishment and subjected to discriminatory taxes and violations of their liberties. Read why Heartland defends smokers.