Experts Say Proposal for Value-Based Pricing of Antimicrobials “Has Potential”

Experts Say Proposal for Value-Based Pricing of Antimicrobials “Has Potential”

“‘The PAVE award is an interesting and encouraging proposal geared toward shifting reimbursement towards value-based metrics,’ said Matrix Global Advisors founder and CEO Alex Brill. ‘This proposal might be further strengthened if in addition to the ‘carrot’ for improved reimbursement models for new products, a ‘stick’ to discourage inappropriate over-utilization of existing products was also included.'”

Shop Online? Internet Retailers Have a Tax Advantage Congress Must End

Shop Online? Internet Retailers Have a Tax Advantage Congress Must End

In recent years, internet sales have grown by nearly 15 percent per year, compared to 4 percent per year for brick-and-mortar retail sales. Although e-commerce represents less than 9 percent of total retail sales, this shift in where we shop is eroding states’ sales tax base. Under the Supreme Court’s 1992 decision in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, sellers without a physical presence in a state cannot be required to collect and remit that state’s sales tax. As a result, online sellers have an artificial competitive advantage over local brick-and-mortar sellers, who must collect sales tax from their customers. Congress needs to end this unfair tax advantage.

A Few Comments on E-Cigarettes and Cigarette Smoking Among Adolescents and Young Adults

A Few Comments on E-Cigarettes and Cigarette Smoking Among Adolescents and Young Adults

In a recent JAMA Pediatrics article on the correlation between e-cigarette use and subsequent cigarette smoking among adolescents and young adults, Dartmouth demographer Samir Soneji and his co-authors find that the probability of cigarette smoking at follow-up is significantly higher among all e-cigarette users than among individuals who never used a nicotine product. Based on this finding, they conclude that “strong e-cigarette regulation” by the federal, state, and local governments are needed to minimize the potential “future population-level burden of tobacco.” This conclusion is unwarranted based on the nature of their results.

Trump, Amazon, and Taxes

Trump, Amazon, and Taxes

Back in 2012, my AEI colleague Alex Brill wrote about the wisdom of combining internet sales taxes with income-tax base broadening. Back then, Congress was considering legislation, the Marketplace Equity Act, that would have permitted states to collect the sales tax they are owed when their residents purchase goods online from out-of-state sellers.