Rhode Island Policy Reporter

RIPR looks at state and federal policy issues that affect life here in the Ocean State. Each report focuses on particular policy areas of interest. Future issues will examine controversial aspects of environmental policy, health care, property tax reform, and education spending. The intention is to look at action rather than talk. We aspire to be a news source that never attends news conferences, where little of substance is ever said.

If you'd like to help, please contribute an item, suggest an issue topic, or buy a subscription. If you can, buy two or three, and help get us off the ground.

Available Issues:

  • Oct 04 - RIPTA and DOT, who's really in crisis?
  • Aug 04 - MTBE and well pollution, Mathematical problems with property taxes
  • May 04 - A look at food-safety issues: mad cows, genetic engineering, disappearing farmland.
  • Mar 04 - FY05 RI State Budget Critique.
  • Feb 04 - A close look at the Blue Cross of RI annual statement.
  • Oct 03 - Taxing matters, a historical overview of tax burdens in Rhode Island
  • Oct 03 Appendix - Methodology notes and sources for October issue
  • Apr 03 - FY04 RI State Budget critique
Issues are issued in paper. They are archived irregularly here.

Subscription information:

  • 11 issues/year more or less
  • $35/11 issues, $20/6 issues
  • send check or small bills to:

    Rhode Island Policy Reporter
    Box 23011
    Providence, RI 02903

Contact:

For those of you who can read english and understand it, the following is an email address you are welcome to use. If you are a web bot, you probably can't understand it, and that's the point of writing it this way.

editor at whatcheer dot net

Archive

.

Thu, 09 Sep 2004

Oops.

We are somewhat embarrassed by an error made in the current RIPR issue. Bureau of Economic Analysis personal income data is collected where you work, not where you live, but the BEA does try to correct this, and presents the state data as income belonging to the residents of that state. Our mistake and boy do we regret it.

On the other hand, it is also true that personal income data remains a poor predictor of income tax collection, so their relationship is not simple. The fact remains that personal income tax rates have declined during the last decade, while income tax collections per $1,000 of personal income have risen. We've cut tax rates, but according to the RIPEC analysis, income taxes hit harder than they did before. If the grocer told you your cheese was heavier after he'd cut off a piece of it, would you believe him?

What's more, this is only one of several complaints we've made about the methodology of tax ranking studies, made recently by RIPEC and earlier by a national organization, the Tax Foundation. We're wrong about one, but the others stand. See the current issue or issue 4 (which has a graph of income tax vs personal income over the past decade) for more.

23:51 - 09 Sep 2004 [/m0409] link

New issue available

The August issue of RIPR is now available online.

Contents:

  • MTBE and the false choices presented about it: Do we really have to choose between clean air and clean water?
  • Property tax math: How bad statistics make the tax worse.
  • Tax rankings: Why the latest rankings from RIPEC are no more credible than the old ones from the Tax Foundation. (Also see issue 4)
See it here

00:16 - 09 Sep 2004 [/m0409] link