Taxes

From the Citizens for Tax Justice

United States Remains One of the Least Taxed Industrial Countries
(PDF; 66 KB)

Taxes continue to take up a relatively small part of American economic output, according to data compiled by Citizens for Tax Justice from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the U.S. Treasury and the U.S. Census.

For example, in all but two OECD countries, taxes make up a larger percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) than in the United States.

Agricultural Statistics

From the National Agricultural Library:

National Agricultural Library Releases New Digital Collection:

Fruit and Vegetable Market News Reports

The reports are a collection of statistics on the annual shipment summaries of fresh fruit and vegetable commodities in the United States from 1916 to 1998, and of regional summaries of arrival/unload totals from 1960 to 1980 or 1998, depending on the area.
These historical data were compiled by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service and its predecessor agencies.

To access and search, select the collection on this page.

Global Legal Information

From the Law Library of Congress:

Global Legal Information Network (GLIN)

This is "a public database of laws, regulations, judicial decisions, and other complementary legal sources contributed by governmental agencies and international organizations.
Each document is accompanied by a summary in English and subject terms selected from the multilingual index to GLIN. All summaries are available to the public, and public access to full texts is also available in participating jurisdictions."

Searchable, or browsable using the subject term index. From the Law Library of Congress.

URL: http://www.glin.gov

Transportation Statistics

From the Bureau of Transportation Statistics:

Transportation Statistics Annual Report 2006 (Online Version)

This report presents selected transportation data on 13 topics specified in the legislative mandate of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.


Some tables are available in HTML, CSV, and XLS formats.

National Wetlands Research Center Library

A library for research in wetland science:

Fact Sheet: Welcome to the National Wetlands Research Center Library: Not Just Another Library–A Special Library

The NWRC library is the only USGS library dedicated to wetland science. Library personnel offer expert research services to meet the informational needs of NWRC scientists, managers, and support personnel.

Direct PDF, 2 pages.

Direct to NWRC Library Web Site

Performance Pay for Teachers

From The Center for Teaching Quality:

Performance-Pay for Teachers: Designing a System that Students Deserve

From press release
(PDF; 110 KB)

Teachers will support performance-pay plans that advance student achievement and the teaching profession, says a first-of-its-kind report written by a diverse group of expert teachers from across the United States.

The new TeacherSolutions study proposes radical changes in the way teachers have traditionally been compensated, including:

Rewarding small teams of teachers who raise student achievement together;
Rewarding teachers who accept challenging assignments in high-needs schools and strengthen connections between school and community; and
Redesigning pay systems so that teacher success, not seniority or graduate degrees, determines maximum teacher pay.

Executive Summary (PDF; 386 KB)
Full Report (PDF; 844 KB)

American Presidency

The American Presidency Project

This website contains a searchable database of tens of thousands of documents from U.S. presidents from 1789 to the present. Includes inaugural addresses, press briefings, signing statements, and debates.

Also features data on topics such as popularity and number of public appearances, election results back to 1828, and an archive of audio and video clips. A collaboration between John Woolley and Gerhard Peters at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

URL: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu

State Taxes

From the Census Department:

Federal, State, and Local Governments: State Government Tax Collections

This report "provides a summary of taxes collected by state for up to 25 tax categories. These tables and data files present the details on tax collections by type of tax imposed and collected by state governments."

Includes data back to 1992 on property taxes, sales taxes, licenses, income taxes, and other taxes. Includes technical documentation.

URL: http://www.census.gov/govs/www/statetax.html

Fortune's Top Companies

From Fortune Magazine: Top Companies

Fortune 500, 2007

Top 10:

1. Wal-Mart Stores
2. Exxon Mobile
3. General Motor
4. Chevron
5. ConocoPhillips
6. General Electric
7. Ford Motor
8. Citigroup
9. Bank of America
10. American International Group

Methodology FAQ
Maps
Source: Fortune

See Also: Forbes 2000 (World’s Largest Public Companies)

Congressional Archives

From the National Archives:

New Web Harvest Online: 109th Congress


What does it contain?

More than four million pages (42 GB) crawled and archived between 11/11/06 and 12/11/06
Browse by Members Name
Browse by Committee Name
Browse by Leadership
Browse by House or Senate Organizations


The crawl was done using The Internet Archive’s open-source Heretix Crawler.
Learn More about the 109th Congress Web Harvest

Dr. James Billington, Librarian of Congress, recently told a U.S. House Committee, that the average life of a web site is between 44 and 75 days.

Sources: NARA and The Internet Archive

Health Care Costs

The cost of health care:

Snapshot: Health Care Costs 101, 2007 Edition


The fourth edition of Health Care Costs 101, an annual overview of the latest health spending trends in California and the nation, finds reasons for both hope and concern.

While spending on health care continues to moderate, the growth in health spending was twice the rate of inflation in 2005, resulting in constant pressure on government, employers, and consumers to keep up.

Among the key findings:

* Total spending on health reached $2 trillion in 2005 and is projected to reach one-fifth of the gross domestic product (GDP) by 2016;* Per person spending on health care increased 77% between 1995 and 2005;* Hospitals and physician services take the largest share of the health care dollar (52%);* The growth rate for prescription drug spending is at its lowest level in 20 years; and* While out-of-pocket costs for consumers continue to rise, their share of all health care spending (15%), has declined.

Direct to Full Text

224 pages; PDF.

National Library Week

National Library Week -April 15-21, 2007

Here's the letter that was sent to all SSO tenants.



MEMORANDUM


TO: Directors of State Offices and Associations of State Officials
FROM: Marianne Reiff
DATE: April 11, 2007
RE: National Library Week: April 15-21, 2007

This month, April 15-21, 2007, the SSO Library celebrates National Library Week. During National Library Week libraries of all types and the people who use them come together with the American Library Association and its Campaign for America’s Libraries to celebrate the contributions of all libraries, librarians and library workers in our nation’s schools, campuses and communities. Libraries today are enjoying a golden age in which public, school, special and university libraries are flourishing not only within the physical confines of bricks and mortar, steel and glass, but also in the continuously expanding Internet universe.

This year’s theme is:"Come together @ your library®". Libraries are the places where everyone – regardless of age, race or income – can come together, whether it’s for entertainment, self-help or to find their place in the community.

The SSO Library plays an important role in the research conducted by Hall of the States offices.
Over the past year:

· SSO's library loaned 8,093 items to Hall of the States offices from its collection.
· SSO’s publication discount program saved Hall of the States offices $293,000.00 on BNA, CQ, National Journal and other publications.
· SSO’s library staff conducted $39,690.00 worth of Dialog, Factiva and Lexis-Nexis database searches for your staff members.
· With the help of 61 libraries from all over the country, SSO provided Hall of the States offices with 150 additional books and periodicals through interlibrary loan.
· The SSO Library has developed a blog – http://ssolibrary.blogspot.com. This daily blog provides up-to-date information on Web sites of interest to SSO tenants.
· The table of contents of 15 daily publications are e-mailed daily to over 50 tenants – providing timely information on important issues.


Please join SSO’s Library Staff in celebrating National Library Week. Our Library Open House will be on Friday April 13, 2007 from 8:30a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Refreshments will be served.

Homeland Security

The cost of homeland security

What Has Homeland Security Cost? An Assessment: 2001-2005

This February 2007 analysis of "public and private expenditures on homeland security shows that overall spending rose by $44 billion between 2001 and 2005 -- a clear increase but one that represents a gain of only 1/4 of 1 percent as a share of U.S. GDP."

Includes a press release and the full text of the article with statistical tables and charts. From the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.


URL: http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/current_issues/ci13-2.html

Joint Center for Housing Studies

From Harvard University:

http://www.jchs.harvard.edu

The JCHS "is Harvard University's center for information and research on housing in the United States.

The Joint Center analyzes the dynamic relationships between housing markets and economic, demographic, and social trends."

The site features publications on topics such as the state of the nation's housing (with information and data about house production, ownership, and prices), home remodeling, rentals, and more.

Also includes an overview of research topics and articles written by JCHS members.

Searchable.

State Information

From State Net


A Selection of Free Resources from State Net


State Legislative Session SummaryUpdated weekly.

2007 State Legislative Sessions 1 page; PDF

2007 State Election Calendar

2007 State Partisanship Chart

State Net Capitol Journal (Free, Registration Required)
Latest political news from all 50 states via e-mail.

Climate Change

From the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change


Climate Change 2007 — Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability: Summary for Policymakers

Scientific Research

Access to scientific information now available:

This site is "a free, publicly available web portal allowing access to numerous scientific journals and public science databases."

Search for materials in the topics of astronomy, biology, chemistry, computers, environmental sciences, engineering, health and medicine, materials science, mathematics, physics, and social sciences.

Also includes links to related sites. From a software company.

URL: http://www.scienceresearch.com

World Health Day

It's World Health Day

World Health Day: 7 April


Collection of links to sites related to World Health Day.

"On this day around the globe, thousands of events mark the importance of health for productive and happy lives."

Also includes links to recent UN documents on the subjects of human health and illness prevention and treatment. Available in several languages.

From the Dag Hammarskjöld Library of the United Nations.

URL: http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/health/

Housing Costs

From the Center for Housing Policy: Paycheck to Paycheck: Wages and the Cost of Housing in America This website "presents wage information for more than 60 occupations and home prices and rents for nearly 200 metropolitan areas." Metropolitan area charts compare the annual income needed to afford median-priced homes and rental units against the annual incomes of selected generally lower-waged professions. Or, select a profession to view comparisons of income needed for housing in different metropolitan areas. URL: http://www.nhc.org/chp/p2p/

Quality of Living Survey

A new survey that ranks cities for quality of living

The 2007 Worldwide Quality of Living Survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting has found that four of the world’s five top-scoring cities for health and sanitation are in North America. Calgary ranks top with a score of 131.7, followed by Honolulu, which scores 130.3. Helsinki – the only European city in the top five – follows closely in the rankings with a score of 128.5. Ottawa and Minneapolis take fourth and fifth places with scores of 127.2 and 125.7 respectively.

Scores are based on the quality and availability of hospital and medical supplies and levels of air pollution and infectious diseases. The efficiency of waste removal and sewage systems, water potability and the presence of harmful animals and insects are also taken into account.
Cities are ranked against New York as the base city which has an index score of 100. The analysis is part of Mercer’s Worldwide Quality of Living Survey, covering 215 cities, which is conducted to help governments and major companies to place employees on international assignments.

URL:
http://www.mercerhr.com/pressrelease/details.jhtml;jsessionid=V3EN15IFHQLNICTGOUFCHPQKMZ0QUJLW?idContent=1173105


Source: Mercer Human Resources Consulting

Labor and Employment

From the U.S. Census Department - Local Employment Dynamics Tool

Databases: A Brief Overview of the Local Employment Dynamics Tool from the U.S. Census

The LED tools can help decision-makers understand current workforce conditions and plan economic development. These tools help employers find potential workers and show jobseekers where to locate up-and-coming industries. The program featured data from five states when it launched in 1999, and had expanded to 44 states by early 2007.

“You see where workers live, where they work and how they commute,” said Census Bureau Director Louis Kincannon. “You can use these tools to spot, for example, where to relocate an office or see where you need more public transportation. The possibilities and uses are endless.”

The three LED online tools are: QWI (Quarterly Workforce Indicators) Online, Industry Focus and On the Map. QWI Online contains eight economic indicators: total employment, net job flow, job creation, number of new hires, separations, turnover and average monthly earnings for all workers and new hires.

Each indicator is a measure of a local economy that combines wage information with demographic data, such as age and sex. Together, they provide a complete picture of an area’s workforce, and changes can be tracked over time.

Direct to Summary To Database

Source: U.S. Census