Old site category
With April 15 upon us, I’d like to talk about taxes. Not about the part of the tax code that generates revenues. You’ve already heard enough about the taxes you pay to last a lifetime, and the election campaign has just begun. Instead, I’ll focus on the less visited topic of the taxes we don’t pay, … Read More
In the next few weeks this country will make two decisions of great consequence: Will we send additional troops to Afghanistan? Will we reform our health care system? It is both instructive and disheartening to see the different ways our policymakers approach these issues.… Read More
To understand the current attacks on ACORN, and the organization itself, we need to go back more than 60 years, to the 1930s and the New Deal, when for the first time, the federal government accepted responsibility for directly helping the non-working poor. These programs were expanded in the 1940s, but in the 1950s, a backlash … Read More
David Morris spoke on Earth Day to the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis on ethics. He began with some definitions:
Ethics is a set of moral values and standards that guide our conduct. Those moral values and standards are not the same in all societies. Our own country offers an excellent example. Indeed, we consider our history and culture so unique that our leaders often use the term American Exceptionalism to describe our economic and social niche.
David Morris on health care in the U.S. and Canada – Wendy Wilde Show, Air America Minnesota
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Just because the federal government can’t overhaul the health care system doesn’t mean it can’t be done. In a similar situation, Canada’s provinces established individual systems founded on equity, public administration and decentralized control. Fifty years later, all Canadians are covered and the plan still costs less per capita (and a smaller percentage of the GDP) than U.S. citizens pay. Maybe we should take another look. By Daniel Kraker… Read More
Higher graduation rates, less violence, a sense of belonging instead of alienation: the case for small schools is supported by mountains of evidence and a growing number of innovative models. But many state and local governments persist in consolidation efforts, fueled by a misguided belief in the effectiveness of giant schools. By Stacy Mitchell… Read More
Prepared and distributed by the Center for Commercial-Free Public Education. TheCenter for Commercial Free Public Education is a nonprofit public education advocacy organization that addresses the issue of commercialism in our public schools. The Center provides support to students, parents, teachers, school board members and other concerned citizens organizing across the U.S. to keep their schools commercial-free and community-controlled. By providing our constituents with the information and the skills that they need to have a voice in the running of their schools, we facilitate leadership development and democratic participation at the local level.… Read More
This March 1997 report by John Bailey and David Morris examines how the proposed $1.5 billion tax shift in Minnesota would impact low income households and offers ways to mitigate the net effect of the tax shift on these households. The Energy Efficiency and Pollution Reduction Act (EEPRA) is a revenue neutral measure proposed in Minnesota to increase energy taxes by $1.5 billion and to reduce existing taxes on labor or income by an equal amount.
