Better understanding the 47 percent
Heather Gibney The current political environment has set off a firestorm of confusion about who does and who does not pay taxes in America — and unfair criticism of many working families and others....
View ArticleGood signs on jobs horizon?
Heather Gibney The national unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent in September — down from 8.1 percent from August. Nonfarm jobs nationally rose by 114,000 with gains in areas like health care,...
View ArticleEITC boost would help families who need it — and economy
Heather Gibney If you imagine a packed Kinnick Stadium on game day you have an idea of how many Iowans were kept out of poverty from 2009 to 2011 thanks to two refundable tax credits. A new...
View ArticleWhy the minimum wage matters
Heather Gibney It doesn’t take long after someone proposes an increase in the minimum wage — as President Obama did in his State of the Union message — to hear the same, tired arguments against it....
View ArticleStagnant objections to minimum wage increases
Heather Gibney Dialogue about increasing the minimum wage is finally emerging in 2013. President Obama proposed an increase in the minimum wage to $9.00 per hour in his State of the Union address, and...
View ArticleWind Power in Iowa: Lower Rates, Good Jobs
Opponents of expanding renewable energy often claim that new, safe and clean electricity is all very nice but it just costs too much. Let’s look at the data. The Energy Information Administration of...
View ArticleHyperbole Alert: The drumbeat to cut corporate taxes in Iowa
Mike Owen TWELVE PERCENT! The figure practically screams at you, even when it’s not in all caps, when the conversation comes to corporate tax rates in Iowa. Here’s the thing: It’s not a real number....
View ArticleMinimum wage — why Iowa is behind
When we start talking about raising the minimum wage in Iowa the most important point is that we’ve been at $7.25 since Jan. 1, 2008, more than a year before the federal minimum rose. And every year...
View ArticleWhy the tuition freeze matters
A bright spot in the just completed session of the Iowa Legislature is that lawmakers for the second year in a row have assured a tuition freeze at Iowa’s Regents universities. The 4 percent increase...
View ArticleWatching Iowa jobs: Don’t miss the deficit
Iowa’s up-again, down-again job picture is looking up again, at least for now. The May numbers from the state show an increase of 6,200 jobs. Coming on the heels of a 3,700 increase in April, this...
View ArticleFocusing better on new Iowans
Oftentimes the topic of immigration reform stirs up heavy debates and preconceived notions about what it means to be an immigrant in the United States. Reality about immigrants, their occupations and...
View ArticleIowa JobWatch: Jobs Rise in August, Still Sluggish
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Iowa nonfarm jobs increased in August to 1,553,500, but the unemployment rate remained at 4.5 percent, down from 4.7 percent a year ago. The Iowa Policy Project today released the...
View Article
More Pages to Explore .....