Badger Institute

Arbitrary tax breaks neither good policy nor good economics

Broad-based Wisconsin tax reform should be the goal, not short-term targeted breaks that benefit only a narrow class of taxpayers.
By Badger Institute visiting fellow Jay Miller.

Tax incremental financing:
Valuable tool or crony capitalism?

Funding mechanism has become a gravy train for developers and distorts the free market, critics say. By Ken Wysocky.

Legislature should fix the complex TIF process that benefits developers and politicians at the expense of taxpayers. By Richard Esenberg.

Firefighters almost never fight fires nowadays

► Fire departments have morphed into EMS agencies. Is there a more effective, efficient way to provide services?
By Dave Daley.

► Government grows at the expense of the private sector.
By Dave Lubach.

► Clinging to an old picture. By Mike Nichols.

► Regional approach offers solution. By Janet Weyandt.

Conservative young Wisconsin
women defy stereotypes

They’re spurned for not fitting the liberal mold, but they stand strong. "Conservative women have many targets on their back," one millennial says. Another observes, "As a millennial woman, I often feel like people check the boxes for me and immediately assume that because I am a woman, I have liberal ideas." By Emily Jashinsky.

The road to driverless transit

As the world moves forward with automated vehicles, including autonomous transit, Milwaukee clings to 19th century technology.
By Baruch Feigenbaum.

From the ground up:
A profile of Badger Mining

Family-owned for five generations, one of the state's largest and most successful industrial sand mining companies thrives with its inclusive team approach and commitment to the environment.
By Betsy Thatcher.

Here are trends we're observing

Numbers and nuggets from trends in Wisconsin — on everything from the state's tax rankings to our workforce shortage to the growth in occupational licensing to corrections to the transportation funding dilemma to the decline of the mainstream media.

Eschewing marriage

► Add Catholics and older folks to those who are choosing to be single. By Marie Rohde.

► Celebrating marriage: These couples still cherish the institution.
By Marie Rohde.

► Marriage is a foreign concept to some. By Michael Jahr.

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Badger Institute names two new visiting fellows

Ike Brannon (left), president of the consulting firm Capital Policy Analytics in Washington, D.C., and Andrew Hanson, associate professor of economics at Marquette University, will provide the institute with research and commentary on a wide variety of topical issues ranging from labor force needs to immigration to minimum wages to tax subsidies. Read more here.

Diggings Spring 2018

► Time to burn: So few fires to fight. By Dave Daley.
► Government grows at expense of private sector. By Dave Lubach.
► Clinging to an old picture. By Mike Nichols.
► Regional approach offers solution. By Janet Weyandt.
► Conservative young Wisconsin women defy stereotypes. By Emily Jashinsky.
► From the ground up: A profile of Badger Mining Corp. By Betsy Thatcher.
► Tax incremental financing: Valuable tool or crony capitalism? By Ken Wysocky.
► Tax incremental financing is a recipe for abuse. By Richard Esenberg.
► Eschewing marriage and celebrating marriage. By Marie Rohde.
► Marriage is a foreign concept to some. By Michael Jahr.
► The road to driverless transit. By Baruch Feigenbaum.

Licensure reform levels playing field for aspiring chiropractors

Madison — A bill signed by Gov. Scott Walker on April 16 will allow aspiring chiropractors who pass the national board exam to secure a license in Wisconsin without having to attain an arbitrarily higher score set by the state. Read more here.

Institute launches Center for Opportunity

The Center will focus on public policies related to poverty alleviation, criminal justice, upward mobility and occupational licensing. The Institute also announces Visiting Fellows Program.

New federal tax law should prod Wisconsin to enact tax reform

Residents in high-tax states like ours are stung harder by cap on state/local tax deduction. By visiting fellow Jay Miller.

Licensure reform helps barbers, cosmetologists

Madison — Barbers, cosmetologists and other beauty professionals will now be able to practice their professions with fewer regulatory burdens after Gov. Scott Walker on Nov. 27 signed into law reforms that will reduce complicated and costly licensing requirements. Read more here.

Government's love for licensure

Read our April 2017 report, “Government’s love for licensure,” which tells the real-world stories of Wisconsinites stymied by the state's burdensome licensure system. Reforms signed into law in November remove some of the regulations highlighted in the report.

The impact and influence of the Badger Institute

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Webinar on Interstate tolling for Wisconsin

View our June 26, 2017, webinar featuring Robert W. Poole Jr. on the potential benefits of Interstate tolling as Wisconsin grapples with its perennial transportation funding dilemma. Poole is director of transportation policy at the Reason Foundation and author of Rebuilding and Modernizing Wisconsin's Interstate with Toll Financing.

Rating YoungStar

How Wisconsin's child care quality rating and improvement system measures up. Wisconsin needs to continue YoungStar and make sure tax dollars do not flow to substandard providers.
By Rob Grunewald, Michael Jahr and Matt Snyder
June 2017

Black Robes & Blue Collars

Report identifies policy changes to Wisconsin's expungement and sentence adjustment laws that could lighten the state's prison load, increase employment opportunities for ex-offenders and help employers find workers.

► Problems with Wisconsin’s Expungement Law: How the Law is Used and How to Make It More Equitable and Effective
► Sentence Adjustment Petitions: Are They Working?

Unlocking Potential

Report highlights strategies for reducing recidivism through investment in work, training and re-entry programs, and encourages the use of social impact bonds.
► Wisconsin's historical policy dilemma on corrections
► The state can't afford status quo
► Re-entry program offers Hope for Prisoners
► Alma Center: Breaking the cycle of abuse
► MATC program puts offenders on career path
► Private industry, prisons team up
► Skilled trades program offers a second chance
► Social impact bonds: A new way forward
► Video of event in Milwaukee featuring Jon Ponder

Project for 21st Century Federalism

The Project for 21st Century Federalism is the Badger Institute's multi-year investigation of the growth in federal grants and their effect on state and local governance. Stories in the project include: