A new report was released by the Beacon Center of Tennessee on Wednesday examining the return on investment for students and taxpayers at Tennessee’s public universities and colleges.
Read the full storyTag: Ron Shultis
Director of Policy for Beacon Impact, Ron Shultis Discusses Why the PROAct Is Bad
Thursday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Director of Policy for Beacon Impact, Ron Shultis to the newsmakers line who explained elements of the PROAct, federalized occupational licensing, and the Freedom to Work Act bill proposed by Rep. Harshbarger.
Read the full storyNashville-Based Beacon Center Ranks La Vergne the Freest City in Tennessee
The City of La Vergne is the “Freest City” in all of Tennessee.
This, according to a study that Beacon Center of Tennessee staff call the City Freedom Index. Beacon staff published the study Wednesday. Beacon, based in Nashville, is a right-of-center think tank.
“The Beacon Center says the reason La Vergne ranked in the number one spot is credit to its strong showing Free Enterprise (ranked 1 out of 30) and Cost of Government (ranked 3 out of 30),” La Vergne officials said in a press release.
Read the full storySound Public Policy Helping Free Enterprise is What Tennessee Needs to Fight COVID-19 Fallout, Beacon Center Says
The Beacon Center of Tennessee released a set of 20 policy solutions focused on what policies the state should and shouldn’t enact moving forward when it deals with COVID-19.
Read the full storyFree Market Expert Explains House Bill 2638 That Would Cap Local Property Tax Hikes
On Wednesday’s Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – guest host Ben Cunningham welcomed Beacon Center of Tennessee’s Ron Shultis to the newsmakers line.
Read the full storyTennessee Libraries Best Way to Get Broadband to Rural Areas, Report Says
Rather than use taxpayer dollars to expand broadband into Tennessee’s rural areas, the people holding the government purse strings are better off giving local libraries enough money to purchase mobile hotspots.
Read the full storyRural Tennessee Needs Good Government and Free Market Policies to Thrive, New Report Says
Good government and free market policies — and not government programs that hand out incentives using taxpayer dollars — are the best way to help Tennessee’s rural communities get ahead.
Read the full storyBluff City Law to Film on Location in Memphis, Likely to Get Corporate Welfare
The NBC drama Bluff City Law will reportedly film on location in Memphis, and it’s also presumed Tennessee officials will hand out corporate welfare in exchange. This, according to Monday’s Memphis Commercial Appeal. The show stars Jimmy Smits. But Tennessee taxpayers may lose out, said Ron Shultis, policy coordinator for the Nashville-based Beacon Center of Tennessee, in an analysis on the group’s website. Beacon is a free-market think tank. “The reason Tennessee should continue to give little—or, even better, outright eliminate these programs—is because film incentives have been shown to be a terrible value. State film incentives became popular in the mid and late 2000s. By 2009, 44 states offered some kind of film incentive. What those in the industry won’t tell you is that since then, thirteen states have completely eliminated their programs and several more have reduced theirs because these programs have been shown to be a bad value for taxpayers,” Shultis wrote. “In fact, a recent study by Tennessee’s Dept. of Economic and Community Development (ECD) found that the $69.1 million given over the life of Tennessee’s program has resulted in $14.7 million in state tax collections, or a 21-cent return on the dollar. This estimate…
Read the full storyReport: Tennessee Lacks Transparency and Accountability in State Incentive Programs
Tennessee has too many confidential incentive deals, and taxpayers don’t know how much of their money goes to private companies or what return on investment they’re getting, according to a report released Thursday. The Beacon Center of Tennessee, a Nashville-based free market think tank, published the report. “To make matters worse, even when companies are required to disclose the number of jobs created as part of their agreement, some haven’t submitted reports in years,” said Beacon Policy Coordinator Ron Shultis, who authored the report, in a press release. “This report actually leaves us with a lot more questions than answers. No matter where you stand on economic incentives, everyone should be for transparency when it comes to how our tax dollars are being spent, and our economic development programs fail that basic test.” Among some of the report’s findings: • State officials do not require that many companies that receive taxpayer money hire the number of workers promised. All 25 FastTrack agreements that Beacon employees reviewed only required companies to hire 80 percent of the promised jobs. • Companies that received FastTrack Economic and Community Development Grants often did not submit the required documentation on time. In fact, only 51 percent of the mandated…
Read the full story