Scott and School Choice
A week ago, Gov. Scott’s new press secretary Jason Maulucci told the media that the governor is “willing to have the conversation about changing how we pay for education.” But he said that conversation must also examine the state’s spending on education “with a focus on equity.”
Commission Says Expand VT Sales Tax to Services and Necessities
The Vermont Tax Structure Commission released its 180 page draft report to the legislature in January, and one of the major 
recommendations it makes is to expand Vermont’s 6% sales tax, currently limited to non-essential goods and a few select services, to all goods and services except healthcare. Doing this would be accompanied by an overall rate reduction to 3.6%.
VT Labor Union Boss Reaffirms Opposition to TCI
On January 19, the Vermont AFL-CIO labor union hosted a virtual panel discussion, in which they answered questions from members of Vermont Interfaith Action, a left-leaning faith-based, political action group.
Biden and Jefferson
President Biden did a pretty good job on his inaugural address. His theme was unity, and his speechwriters decorated it with lots of good words like hope, truth, honor, respect, tolerance, goodness, faith, and of course democracy. He also listed half a dozen of the great causes he intends to address, which left me a bit apprehensive.
Push Is On To Expand VT Sales Tax to Services
The Vermont Tax Structure Commission released its 180 page draft report to the legislature, and one of the major recommendations it makes is to expand Vermont’s 6% sales tax, currently limited to goods and a few singled out services such as ski rentals, to everything but healthcare, and to reduce the overall rate to 3.6%.
Commentary: Closing the Educational Performance Gap
A discouraging report from the American Enterprise Institute finds that the expenditure of billions of new dollars on public education has done almost nothing to close the reading and math gap between higher- and lower-income students. Maybe we should be looking for more promising alternatives.
Feds Gave Every Vermonter $7229 on Average in 2020
The Peterson Foundation, that tracks government spending, recently came up with a surprising result.