Author Archive | Eric Boehm

Amid a bevy of proposed tax increases, Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy has called for a new 75 percent wholesale tax on electronic cigarettes and other vaping products—part of an effort to close a $3.5 billion deficit. As you might expect, vape shop owners are not happy with the idea. “Just do the math,” Christine Mazzotta, […]

Ian Johnson/Icon Sportswire DCD/Ian Johnson/Icon Sportswire/NewscomCincinnati, Ohio, has a modestly successful minor league soccer team, FC Cincinnati, which shares a stadium with the University of Cincinnati football team. Within the next two years, though, the club hopes to join Major League Soccer, the top tier professional league in the United States. To get there, FC […]

Joseph Sohm Visions of America/NewscomBy now, every political commentator has offered a suggestion for how Donald Trump ended up as president of these United States. Few have missed their targets as badly as Damon Linker’s most recent offering, which suggests that we could have avoided President Trump if only the government had remained committed, for […]

John Greim John Greim Photography/NewscomIn normal times, when Congress passes legislation, the two chambers are required to approve identical versions of a bill before it can go to the president’s desk. It’s one of the fundamental rules underpinning our bicameral legislative structure, where House and Senate are equal in importance and the consent of both […]

Jeff Malet Photography/NewscomIn 2015, when presented with a bill that would have repealed much of Obamacare’s taxes and regulations, Senate Republicans were eager to send a political message. Though the bill would be vetoed by then-President Barack Obama, 52 Republicans voted “aye.” With 48 of those 52 senators still in office, the Senate on Wednesday […]

Harry Lynch/MCT/NewscomEven something as simple as having a friend watch your dog for the weekend isn’t immune from the scourge of government permission slips in New York City, it seems. The city’s Health Department is threatening users of a popular pet-sitting app with fines of $1,000 for taking care of animals without a license. Thousands […]

Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game will be played Tuesday night in Marlins Park in Miami, a stadium that taxpayers built with more than $500 million. The main culprit in one of the worst stadium deals in American history—the stadium will actually cost more than $2.4 billion with interest by the time all the bonds are […]

WARNER BROTHERS / Album/NewscomMore than 51 million Americans do not have adequate access to dental care. Yet dentists in several states are fighting efforts to increase the number of professionals who can clean teeth and fill cavities. The Washington Post has published a detailed look at the political power of the American Dental Association, which […]