STATE THINK TANK: As the only free-enterprise public policy “think tank” in the state, our Center for Freedom provides timely research and analysis on important issues in RI, and is a proud member of the State Policy Network, working closely with over 50 other state-based affiliates.
CHANGING LIVES: Our mission is to relentlessly promote free-market solutions to solve the critical economic and educational issues we face at the state and local levels, so as to return prosperity to our Rhode Island citizens … and to change lives for the better!
COALITION BUILDING: Our Center hosts regular meetings attended by key reform and taxpayer advocacy groups in the state. These meetings provide an important forum where information is shared and where concepts for cooperative outreach and grassroots advocacy are hatched.
RECENT POSTS
Center Assembles Expert Panel for Sales Tax Hearing
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 13, 2013 Providence, RI -- Hailed as the largest tax cut and economic stimulus plan the state of Rhode Island has ever considered, an expert panel has been assembled by the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity to testify at Wednesday's hearing of the "Sales Tax Re...
38 Questions on the Superman Building
Would Saving Superman be Kryptonite to RI’s Economy? Opinion Local developer Arnold “Buff” Chace of Cornish Associates and a Massachusetts real estate investment fund, High Rock Development, recently released a “redevelopment plan” for the property at 111 Westminster Street in Providen...
Center Provides Testimony on Key 2013 Bills
The RI Center for Freedom and Prosperity submitted the following pieces of testimony to the appropriate House and Senate committees regarding proposed 2013 pieces of legislation. As an IRS approved, 501-C-3 nonprofit organization, the Center is not allowed to openly advocate 'for' or 'against' a...
Online Merger of The Ocean State Current and Anchor Rising
Providence, RI -- The Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity announced today that its online journalism and commentary wing, The Ocean State Current, will be merging the content of Anchor Rising into a single location on The Current's existing website and URL. The co-branded joint venture,...
Rhode Island Employment Snapshot, March 2013: Slipping
Rhode Island's unemployment rate fell again, down to 9.1%. If that's good news, however, then the state's strategy must really be to get people to give up on ever finding work. The first chart below shows that employment slid a little, creating a trend mainly of stagnation. But it appears that th...
Protecting Citizens from Unjust Prosecution
Why Rhode Island needs a Default Mens Rea Provision Download a PDF of the 2013 policy brief here ; related Senate Bill No. 414; related 2012 policy brief Background The rapid expansion of criminal laws in modern day jurisprudence requires a default mens rea (criminal intent) provision to ensure...
Minimum Wage’s Cost in Jobs: 432 at $8.25 and 3,466 at $10.10
Profile of minimum wage worker is NOT of a low-income, family bread-winner. Related Links: WJAR-10 TV Story; GoLocalProv Story As an update to prior studies of the effect of increasing the minimum wage on Rhode Island’s employment situation, the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity estimates...
Rhode Island Employment Snapshot, February 2013: Mixed, Stagnant Picture
For the first time in years, Rhode Island's unemployment rate is out of the bottom three for the nation, down to 9.4%. Once again, however, the Ocean State's "improvement" hinges on a loss of people in the labor force. The first chart below shows that, while employment edged up in February, the...
RI Medicaid Abuse Puts New Spin on “Laundering” Taxpayer Dollars
MEDIA: NBC- Channel 10, ABC Channel 6, 630 WPRO The State of Rhode Island has developed a new spin on the idea of "laundering" money, as part of the cycle of taxpayer dollars that end up in the pockets of the special few, according to a follow-up post today on The Ocean State Current, the journal...
High Overtime, Evasion Raise New Questions About Medicaid Fraud and Waste
Related Links: GoLocalProv, New Allegations Surface in RI Medicaid Fraud; In the wake of an investigative article published this morning in The Ocean State Current about suspiciously high overtime payments to government employed nurses and psychiatrists, the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and...
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LASTEST FROM TWITTER
- Another victim of the RI economy. Could a 0% Sales Tax have saved this store? (And this person’s heartbreak?) http://t.co/4J6WSHR6rr
[13 hours ago] - As thousands graduates from Rhode Island’s renowned universities, what has our state done to make easier for them to find jobs here?
[16 hours ago] - The economic situation in Rhode Island and states like it, and the federal scandals of this week are proof that big government doesn’t work.
[4 days ago]