Expensing Is Key in Any Pro ‐Growth Tax Package
Adam N. MichelAs Congress searches for policies to meet our current economic challenges, maintaining full expensing —which has begun to phase out—should be top of the list. Full expensing protects business investment from the costs of inflation and supports economic growth by reducing barriers to new investments.Expensing (also called 100 percent bonus depreciation) allows businesses to deduct the full cost of new investments in the year they are made. Without expensing, investment costs must be deducted over time. For example, if a farmer buys a new combine and can only use one-fifth of what he paid to offset revenues...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 19, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Adam N. Michel Source Type: blogs
Importance of Startup Businesses
Chris EdwardsThisCato study examined the role of startup businesses and the angel investors who fund them. It discussed how startups create jobs, generate innovations, and inject competition into markets.Covering some of the same ground, a new piece in theWall Street Journal by Christopher Mimsdiscusses differences between large and small high ‐tech firms. Compared to large firms, small firms tend to have less bureaucracy, assume more risk, act more quickly, and may have better worker incentive structures.The moment Noam Bardin, former chief executive of navigation app Waze, knew that life at a big company w...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 11, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Chris Edwards Source Type: blogs
Can San Francisco Afford Reparations?
Marc JoffeLater this year, San Francisco Supervisors will consider anambitious plan to make reparations to black residents to compensate them for the lingering effects of slavery and more recent discriminatory public policies. While other Cato scholars have commented more generally on reparations atthe national level andin San Francisco, I will focus here on the fiscal implications and the local economic impact.AHoover institution analysis of the plan estimates its cost at $200 billion, with most of the expense attributable to the recommended $5 million cash payment to each eligible individual. Because the recommendat...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 10, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Marc Joffe Source Type: blogs
Arkansas and Alabama Make Much Needed Progress on Occupational Licensing Reform
Marc JoffePreviously, I reported on an Archbridge Institute analysis that ranked Arkansas first in the nation for imposing occupational licensing burdens. “The Natural State” has erected licensing barriers to more professions than any other. After Texas, the study placed Alabama at number three. Although Texas does not appear to be doing anything about its licensing barriers, Arkansas and Alabama are making some progress.This week, Arkansas became the 21st state to adopt universal licensing recognition when Governor Sarah Huckabee SanderssignedSB 90 into law. The act requires Arkansas agencies to automatically gra...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 7, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Marc Joffe Source Type: blogs
Fewer Than One Percent Of Accounts Are Above The FDIC Limit
Norbert MichelYesterday, the Brookings Institution hosted anonline debate titledShould the Ceiling on Deposit Insurance be Lifted?Most of the participants didnot support lifting the cap so that all deposits would be covered by FDIC deposit insurance, and everyone seemed to acknowledge (atleast some of) the risks and challenges of federally insuring all deposits. They also seemed to agree that raising the cap above $250,000 would only help the wealthiest depositors at the expense of everyone else.While the participants did use data to support their arguments, and we have no quibble with their figures, there is important add...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 6, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Norbert Michel Source Type: blogs
Courts Should Protect the Right to Participate in Agency Rulemaking
Thomas A. Berry andGregory MillWhen federal agencies choose to makebinding policy prospectively, those agencies are typically required to give interested parties an opportunity to influence the development of such rules through a process known as “notice‐and‐comment rulemaking.” To promulgate these binding rules, agencies are required by the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) to publish a general notice of proposed rulemaking and then give interested persons an opportunity to submit written data, views, or arguments for the agency to consider. Agencies may not ignore these comments; rather, they mus...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 31, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas A. Berry, Gregory Mill Source Type: blogs
Section 301 Tariffs Cost Americans, Not the Chinese
Gabriella Beaumont-SmithThe United States Trade Representative (USTR) is conducting a four‐year review of the Section 301 tariffs imposed on imports from China. In 2018, the USTR initiatedan investigation into China ’s technology and intellectual property practices and concluded that they adversely affected U.S. businesses. As a result, the U.S. imposed punitive tariffs up to 25 percent on over $300 billion worth of imports from China.As part of the review process, interested Americans could provide comments to the USTR. The almost 1,500 comments filedpaint an ugly picture —higher costs and prices, and less inv...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 27, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Gabriella Beaumont-Smith Source Type: blogs
Bringing Innovation to the Search for Biomarkers
In this Director ’s Message, Dr. Gordon highlights research supported by the NIMH Small Business Innovation Research program that could advance the development of clinically relevant biomarkers. (Source: NIMH Directors Blog)
Source: NIMH Directors Blog - February 14, 2023 Category: Psychiatry Authors: National Institute of Mental Health Source Type: blogs
PrescriberPoint Raises Significant Growth Investment from Lilly, Pfizer, Adobe, and Mastercard with a Mission to Reimagine the Traditional HCP-Pharmaceutical Company Engagement Model
PrescriberPoint, a digital marketplace where Healthcare Providers (“HCPs”) can find all of the resources and support they need in one place to get their patients on therapy, for any FDA or OTC-approved medication, announced its Series Seed investment today. Eli Lilly and Company, Pfizer Inc., Adobe Inc., and Mastercard Incorporated participated in the round.
PrescriberPoint is creating a digital ecosystem based on a “pull” (vs. “push”) model where HCPs can access all the support they need from life science, insurance and pharmacy companies industry-wide, on their terms, in one place. Pro...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - February 13, 2023 Category: Information Technology Authors: Healthcare IT News Tags: Health IT Company Healthcare IT Adobe Adobe Inc. Dan Cornwell Digital Ecosystem Diogo Rau Eli Lilly Eli Lilly and Company FDA Hannah Elsakr HCP HCPs Health IT Funding Health IT Fundings Health IT Investment healthcare provi Source Type: blogs
The New Deal and Recovery, Part 23: The Great Rapprochement
George SelginWhat finally brought the Great Depression to an end? We ' ve seen that, whatever it was, it took place not during the 30s but sometime between then and the end of World War II, when a remarkable postwar revival occurred instead of the renewed depression many feared. We ' ve also seen that, while postwar fiscal and monetary policies weren ' t austere to the point of preventing that revival, they alone can ' t explain it, because they can ' t explain the reawakening of private business investment from its decade-and-a-half-long slumber.Animal SpiritsTo get to the bottom of that reawakening, we must first recall ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 7, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: George Selgin Source Type: blogs
PPP Fraud Investigated in House Oversight Hearing
Nicholas AnthonyIn what was one of the first hearings of the new Congress, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability convenedto investigate the“rampant waste of taxpayer dollars in [COVID-19] relief programs.” Chief among the programs considered was the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP. As I explained ina new briefing paper, there was a clear failure of federal oversight for the PPP during the pandemic and an evaluation of the issues has been long overdue.Gene Dodaro, Comptroller General of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), set the hearing off on the right foot when he said th...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 3, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Nicholas Anthony Source Type: blogs
IRS and the Tax Filing Season
Joseph Bishop-HenchmanMonday marked the beginning of income tax filing season, with every American now facing a deadline to get their papers together and submit forms to the IRS. Biden Administration officialspromised in theNew York Times that the recent $80 billion in added IRS funding will improve performance from the agency ’s appalling service of recent years:As the filing season begins, the I.R.S. is racing to prepare 5,000 recently hired agents to answer the telephones and respond to questions from taxpayers. It is also rolling out new automated systems and staffing up its brick ‐and‐mortar taxpayer ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - January 25, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Joseph Bishop-Henchman Source Type: blogs
Costco Wholesale: What Is Its Pharmacy Strategy? It's Complicated.
Conclusion: Costco Pharmacy Manages Hybrid Cash/Insurance Payments for Rx Drugs Better Than Most Other Big Pharmacy Chains. Still, Costco Won ' tALWAYS Be the Low-Price Leader Because of How the U.S. Prescription Drug Market Functions.Costco Pharmacy ' s cash prices for many prescriptions may be low enough for people to simply bypass their insurance and pay out-of-pocket, which Costco welcomes, similar to how Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co. or a number of other rapidly-growing, cash-only pharmacies which are popping up nationwide operate because their cash prices may be potentially even cheaper than by using insurance. Howev...
Source: Scott's Web Log - January 21, 2023 Category: Endocrinology Tags: 2023 Big pharma bypass insurance cash pharmacy cash-only pharmacy Costco Costco Wholesale Corp. PBM ' Source Type: blogs
Who Committed PPP Fraud?
Nicholas AnthonyThe Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has been plagued with issues since its inception. So whena new report was released from Congress last week on the fraudulent activity surrounding the PPP, it was not a surprise to see that it covered 130 pages. Yet what was a surprise, was the title that the Congressional Committee used for the report:“We Are Not the Fraud Police”: How Fintechs Facilitated Fraud in the Paycheck Protection Program.The report ’s title suggests that the fintech industry facilitated fraud in the PPP, but the report itself tells a very different story. Of the twelve fintech compa...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 9, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Nicholas Anthony Source Type: blogs
Transit Agency Pushes to Condemn Homes and Businesses Now to Possibly Provide Service in 2034
Marc JoffeA northern California transit agency has voted to use its power of eminent domain to displace three San Jose small businesses and eight residential tenants to build a new subway that is not expected to begin operations until 2034.The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) is planning a six ‐mile extension to the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system from North San Jose through the city’s downtown and to neighboring Santa Clara. As I discussed ina recent op ‐ed, the proposed $9.3 billion project is unlikely to attract sufficient new transit ridership to justify its high co...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 5, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Marc Joffe Source Type: blogs
