(For the use of the membership only) by Greg Walker For decades, Indiana has utilized tax increment financing (TIF), an instrument by which future property-tax revenue is captured to pledge for borrowed funds for capital investment. It nonetheless remains controversial. We need to ask why. Debt, or leverage, is a simple idea, and businesses employ this decision model routinely to weigh the risk and reward of borrowing money to make capital investments with the expectation that increased…

by John Gaski Republican Senators Mike Lee and Ted Cruz have been pushing a plan to fund the federal government except for the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) in the next budget year. The senators believe this is the last chance to stop a mortal atrocity against public health. Their effort has met with opposition even by some heavies within their own party. Republicans, however, have a winning hand available in this defunding matter if their…

“All that has been said of the importance of individuality of character, and diversity in opinions and modes of conduct, involves, as of the same unspeakable importance, diversity of education.” — from John Stuart Mill On Liberty (1859) by Cecil Bohanon, Ph.D. K-12 education is the largest component of Indiana’s state budget. Most Hoosier students go to public schools and probably always will. Public schools receive support from the state government for general operations, and…

by Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. Later this month, we will observe the 50th anniversary of the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.” Dr. Terri Jett recently penned an op-ed for the Indianapolis Star about the protesters’ demands and their contemporary relevance. In particular, she emphasized a significant increase in the minimum wage (to $10.10 per hour) as “a moral imperative” that would be beneficial to less-skilled workers and the economy as a whole. Dr. Jett…

by Thomas Heller An Indianapolis newspaper recently offered some careful rethinking on why the state legislature hesitated this past session to authorize Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard — and mayors from neighboring suburban cities — to place a ballot before voters for a $1.3-billion mass-transit plan for Marion and Hamilton counties. While conceding that the particular transit system is underfunded and its skeletal transit service must be improved to enable more people to access employment opportunities…

When a corporate chain bought our home-owned newspaper many years ago it undertook a renovation of the office space. New carpet was put down. Potted plants were sat around — lots of them. The carpeting, though, succumbed to a mold that persists in these parts. Nor did the potted plants, a variety of Ficus, do well in Indiana light, dropping a few yellowed leaves every week until they stood almost bare — pathetic sentinels of…

by Andrea Neal It’s no coincidence that Indiana’s second largest city occupies land that once served as a capital of the Miami Indian nation. Native Americans chose Fort Wayne for its strategic location. The confluence of three rivers — St. Joseph, St. Marys and Maumee — would prove equally appealing to French fur traders, English military men and American pioneers. “This area was important for one main reason,” explains Kathleen O’Connell, a volunteer for Historic…

DRAFT COPY FOR MEMBERS ONLY:  NOT FOR PUBLICATION, QUOTATION OR DUPLICATION   Editors: The author earned his bachelors in economics at the Wharton School and a masters in regional science, both from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to his move to Indiana, he was principal and founder of regional analytic sciences in Seattle, Washington. Heller’s specialty in public finance, land economics and transportation was developed in an array of positions with the Washington State Department…

by Cecil Bohanon, Ph.D. Full disclosure: I have a dog in this race. I am on the board of Delaware Christian Academy (DCA), a private Christian school that uses a traditional curriculum and accepts state-financed vouchers. I have long advocated educational vouchers as a means for improving educational quality. I agree with Dr. Milton Friedman, who would have been 101 years old on July 31 of this year; I think competition in K-12 education is…

by Stephen M. King, Ph.D. In U.S. vs. Windsor, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the provision in the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) denying federal benefits to legally married couples was unconstitutional. The court, however, left intact Section 2 of DOMA, which essentially says that all 37 states that do not recognize same-sex marriage are not required to recognize same-sex marriages in the 13 states that do. Confusing? It only gets…