Governor McDonnell declared 2012 “The Year of the Entrepreneur” in Virginia, asserting the state had the “right” regulatory climate for entrepreneurs. According to a new study on occupational licensure, however, Virginia still has some work to do. An “occupational license” is essentially a government permission slip for work. Having to...
What if you could improve Virginia’s economy by eliminating state income taxes on the working poor (and cutting taxes for everyone else) while creating thousands of new jobs? And what if, at the same time, you stimulated hundreds of millions in new business investments – even while eliminating three job-destroying...
New technology is taking cost, time and uncertainty out of highway design. For Virginians, this quiet revolution means less traffic disruption, lower costs and faster turn-around times on big projects. Last fall Fluor Transurban was negotiating a contract with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to build or upgrade 29...
Producers involved in animal agriculture may soon owe Feld Entertainment Inc., the parent company of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, a deep debt of gratitude. The parent company of Ringling Bros. has been engaged in its own three ring circus, and I do not mean what you take...
(This article is reprinted from Surface Transportation Innovations, a publication by the Reason Foundation that Bob Poole authors each month.) For the past two decades, the United States has missed out on one of the most significant advances in urban highway engineering: the deep-bore tunnel. Such tunnels are now in...
The Obama Administration’s anti-hydrocarbon ideology and “renewable” energy mythology continues to subsidize crony capitalists and the politicians they help keep in office – on the backs of American taxpayers, ratepayers and motorists. The latest chapter in the sorry ethanol saga is a perfect example. Bowing to pressure from ADM, Cargill,...
Can Virginia’s tax system be adjusted in a way that would be revenue neutral and grow our economy over the next several years? This new study by the Thomas Jefferson Institute says “Yes.” By re-arranging some of our current taxes, Virginia could dramatically improve our economy and provide substantial tax...
So, environmentally speaking, how are we doing on Earth Day? Do you think you are better off than you were 42 years ago? Hint, we celebrated the first Earth Day in 1970, 42 years ago. Well, you are. Indeed, our environmental progress has been massive, and if you’d like to...
There is a tremendous thirst in Virginia’s African-American population for higher education that is not reflected in minority enrollment at Virginia’s public colleges and universities. Only 13.8% of the students attending public institutions in the fall of 2008 were African-American. But 47.4% of the students enrolled in private, proprietary colleges...
It is unfortunate that a local issue of serious importance to our area rests in the hands of the Prince William County Circuit Court, and not with our locally elected officials as it should. Right now the Court has hijacked a zoning issue that should be decided by the Prince...
