Media Hit

Critics say the provision would allow states to harass businesses. "It opens the door to a grotesque expansion of state tax collection authority that is almost certainly unconstitutional, and places mandates upon the states that are probably unconstitutional as well," said IPI's Tom Giovanetti.

Obamacare opponents see a potential silver lining in a Supreme Court decision that would end tax credits for many of those using the federal marketplace. To fill the coverage gap, insurance companies might look to sell bare-bones "limited-benefit" plans that don't meet Obamacare's minimum coverage requirement but are less expensive, suggested Merrill Matthews. 

Will Deener, Dallas Morning News columnist, recently moaned about how big U.S. companies engaged in real businesses are avoiding paying billions in taxes because "the nation’s largest companies stockpile billions of dollars in profits overseas." In the process, he assumed that companies would pay the highest federal income tax rate of 35 percent on all overseas profits repatratriated. That's simply wrong, and it's astonishing that someone with his experience doesn't know any better.

You may be surprised abuot who is eligible for the HISD free school meal program in which children up to the age of 18 can eat two meals a day for free, with no registration required. IPI's Merrill Matthews says costs might go down if enrollment was required.

In a new publication, The Private Sector Can Reform Social Security’s Disability Program, Dr. Merrill Matthews, Ph.D., a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation, outlines how Galveston County opted out of Social Security in 1981 with Matagorda and Brazoria counties following suit in 1982. The three counties instead adopted what’s known as the “Alternate Plan.”

Several mostly blue states jumped on the health insurance exchange bandwagon as a way of showing support for Obamacare, says IPI's Merrill Matthews, and something similar happened in 1993 and 1994 with Clintoncare, Matthews says. “Those universal-coverage dreams turned into financial nightmares, and every one of those states eventually dramatically modified, scaled down, or eliminated their plans,” Matthews said.

Writing for the Institute for Policy Innovation, Merrill Matthews has a must-read article about an unintended consequences of Obamacare. He starts with a very sensible point about the effect of third-party payer.

The frequent but mild earthquakes giving shivers to the Irving area likely should be blamed on geologic fault lines rather than gas drilling practices, a geologist said Tuesday at a presentation hosted by the Institute for Policy Innovation.

Merrill Matthews says AH’s struggles are unfortunate but were predicted by nearly everyone—except the company’s CEO.