Tax reform, school choice, health care ruling attract researchers’ attention

Before hitting the road to join most of his research staff colleagues at the American Legislative Exchange Council’s annual meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, Roy Cordato discussed his ideas for a flat-rate consumed income tax during an appearance with Pete Kaliner on WWNC Radio. The transcript of a Carolina Journal Radio interview on the same topic with Cordato, the John Locke Foundation’s Vice President for Research and Resident Scholar, attracted attention from N.C. Senate Republicans.

The Senate GOP and CarolinaPlottHound.com promoted Cordato’s work questioning state government regulators’ claims that North Carolina’s Clean Smokestacks Act caused a decline in state mercury emissions.

While his colleagues traveled to the western United States, Director of Research and Local Government Studies Michael Sanera took a shorter western trip. Sanera drove to King to speak to a Tea Party group on sustainability and the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in the federal health care case.

The Heritage Foundation’s “Insider Online” promoted Director of Education Studies Terry Stoops‘ recent report on the county-by-county and state-by-state market share for schools of choice. While at the ALEC meeting, Stoops offered a presentation to the Education Task Force on the topic “The Virtual Charter School Battle in North Carolina: Lessons for PolicyMakers.”