Month: December, 2006

Deadsville, man

29 December, 2006 (10:43) | Uncategorized |

Should auld acquaintance be forgot?  That’s the question posed, albeit indirectly, by a New York Times story about a Bay Area town that’s really dead at night:
 
COLMA, Calif., Dec. 3 — Years ago this tiny city’s 18-hole golf course was sliced in half. Last spring the nine-hole course became a shorter nine. Next to [...]

Tax credits’ essential issues: Part 3, preconditions

28 December, 2006 (10:45) | Uncategorized |

[Continued from yesterday's Part 2, design variables, and Part 1, unique features]

Because of its unique features and design variables, investment tax credits are intellectually appealing.
 

Yes, I drool over their advantages

Before introducing them, a country needs to assess whether it has the essential preconditions for success:
 

3. [...]

Tax credits’ essential issues: Part 2, design variables

27 December, 2006 (10:20) | Uncategorized |

 

[Continued from yesterday's Part 1, unique features]

In addition to its unique features, an investment tax credit can be targeted by adjusting its design variables:

2. Design variables of an investment tax credit
 

An investment tax credit is a complex tool that can be calibrated to perform [...]

Tax credits’ essential issues: Part 1, unique features

26 December, 2006 (10:16) | Uncategorized |

The week before Thanksgiving, I made a whirlwind trip to South Africa to participate, at the request of the South African National Treasury, in a day-long workshop on investment tax credits as an affordable housing production fiscal initiative.
 

South African National Treasury

In this I was joined by AHI affiliates Kecia Rust (of South Africa) [...]

Ebenezer Scrooge, social theorist

25 December, 2006 (07:44) | Uncategorized |

Of all the movie and television versions of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (and there have been at least thirteen) my favorite is the Mr. Magoo one.  Perhaps because it debuted when I was only nine, it hit me with plenty of force — the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come an absolutely terrifying specter [...]