A FEW DAYS AGO, President Biden signed an executive order requiring that all federal construction projects over $35 million be conducted under a project labor agreement, or PLA. The executive order could cover $262 billion in federal government projects. In a recent op-ed, Frank Callahan of the Massachusetts Building Trades Unions claimed that the executive […]
David G. Tuerck
Posted inOpinion
Claims for millionaire tax don’t add up
AS IT MEETS in a constitutional convention on Wednesday, the Massachusetts Legislature has another opportunity to approve the so-called millionaire’s tax, paving the way for the measure to appear on the November 2022 ballot. This latest campaign to make the state’s flat tax into a graduated income tax would impose a 4 percent tax surcharge on […]
Posted inOpinion
Healey’s kitchen-sink Exxon-Mobil lawsuit
MASSACHUSETTS ATTORNEY GENERAL Maura Healy’s complaint against ExxonMobil rests on the exotic claim that the company’s advertising and public financial reporting purposefully misled shareholders and customers about the effects of global warming. Initially filed in October, Healey’s office submitted an amended version in early June that went a step further, arguing the COVID-19 crisis validates […]
Posted inOpinion
Economists debate need to raise taxes
The following is a letter sent May 26 by 91 economists to Gov. Charlie Baker, House Speaker Robert DeLeo, and Senate President Karen Spilka, followed by a response from David Tuerck, president of the Beacon Hill Institute and professor of economics at Suffolk University. MASSACHUSETTS IS FACING enormous health and economic challenges fighting the COVID-19 […]
Posted inOpinion
Mass. carbon tax: Poor bang for buck
ON THE MATTER of climate change, politicians have reached a point where they will throw anything they have at the problem without a thought to the economic consequences or, for that matter, the effects on climate change. Thus, we get unrealistic ideas such as the “Green New Deal” and the resulting talk about getting rid […]