The Jefferson Journal
Commentary
If I’ve learned anything through my life—whether growing up on my family’s fifth generation hog farm, or through my time representing the voters of an diverse rural, suburban and urban congressional district for seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives—it’s this: what’s good for the goose is good for...
A new study by the Thomas Jefferson Institute shows that the overall finances of Virginia hospitals have substantially improved between the numbers published in 2016 and those in December 2017. More important is the bigger picture: Since 2012, hospital profits have risen from $1.58 billion to $2.15 billion, hospital net...
Increased cigarette taxes rarely produce the revenue expected by local governments. Fairly consistently, the tax increases produce a decrease in revenue, don’t meet expectations, miss budget projections or simply produce mixed results and often turn flat or negative in the years following a tax increase.
... The Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy recently released a new study showing the impact of cigarette tax increases on local government budgets.The study, The Impact of Cigarette Tax Increases on Local Government Budgets (here), uses budget data published by local jurisdictions as part of the budget process. This is...
With a near 50/50 balance of power between Republicans and Democrats in the General Assembly, Governor-elect Ralph Northam will be in a much better position than his predecessor Terry McAuliffe to enact Democratic priorities. And what are those priorities? As he told NBC 4, Medicaid expansion tops the list. Said...
Sometimes it’s hard to believe that this expansion is already more than 8 years long–only 18 months short of the record 120-month expansion that occurred from March 1991 to March 2001. A few analysts are concerned about a recession occurring over the next year or two. From our view, the...
If we continue to burn coal to generate electricity, we might destroy the Earth’s capacity to support life. If we switch to natural gas, then fracking might poison the water and set our faucets on fire. Biomass sounds good, but burning it also releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Hydroelectric...
The Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy recently released a Handbook on Healthcare Reform, a collection of 17 essays by practitioners and public policy specialists offering reforms for healthcare in Virginia (here). The essays focus on several issues, including three issues likely to come before the General Assembly in January:...
The Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC) issued a press release on September 5 of this year claiming that “Metrorail and Virginia Railway Express (VRE) boost state revenues by $ 600 million (here). This “revenue boost” shows that Virginia’s investment in rail transit provides a 250 percent return on investment, according...