The Jefferson Journal
Commentary
Virginia’s gasoline and diesel taxes will rise 7% on July 1, about three more cents per gallon when all the elements of the tax are combined. This is theinflation-driven cost of living adjustment which Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) and most legislative Republicans tried to short circuit, but which was preserved...
Virginia’s auto industry overlords in California have a new set of proposed mandates for both electric and internal combustion vehicles which, once adopted, will automatically apply here in the Commonwealth. They do not advance the date for banning the sale of new gasoline and diesel vehicles earlier than 2035 but...
Last week Virginia collected another $76 million in carbon tax dollars through the ongoing Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative allowance auction. That was the sixth such sale since Virginia joined RGGI, and the state’s total tax take is now $378 million in 18 months. Do not for one minute allow yourself...
Since publishing its first study in February of 1997, the Thomas Jefferson Institute has become the most influential public policy foundation in Virginia. According to many in our state, this foundation is now the most respected non-partisan voice suggesting creative alternatives to current state and local government programs and policies. When this foundation...
-Survey results find strong support for school choice policies- RICHMOND (November 16, 2009) – While a majority of Virginia’s voters believe the state’s public school system is good or excellent, similar numbers favor school choice reforms such as tax-credit scholarships, school vouchers, and charter schools. Fifty-five percent of likely voters would opt...
The Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy is a non-partisan research and education organization devoted to improving the lives of the people in Virginia. The Institute was organized in 1996, and was the only state and local focused public policy foundation in Virginia, based on a philosophy of limited government, free enterprise and...
(Chairman & CEO, The Carpe Diem Group, Inc., a diversified IT professional services firm providing Internet and e-commerce services and solutions to medium and largesized businesses.)Ronald Reagan characterized government behavior in society by these short phrases: “If it moves, tax it; if it continues to move, regulate it; if it stops moving, subsidize it.”...
Senator Mark Obenshain and Delegate Rob Bell have proposed a Virginia constitutional amendment permitting the State Board of Education to authorize public charter schools. If passed this year by the General Assembly, it goes to the voters for approval in November. Because charter schools are relatively unknown in Virginia, it’s important...
1/9/2011 – Local school boards are understandably drooling over the possibility of getting out from under the poorly-devised accountability rules of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). That federal system has annually moved the “finish line” of educational success further and further down the field until, this year, 342 Virginia schools...
“The research shows that kids who have two, three, four strong teachers in a row will eventually excel, no matter what their background, while kids who have even two weak teachers in a row will never recover.” ■ Kati Hancock, President, The Education Trust From President Obama to the conservative-leaning...