NCPA Profile and Programs

 

Achievements and Ideas

Tax and Retirement Policy Reform

  • Americans have invested more than $225 billion in Roth IRAs.
  • 401(k) reforms developed by the NCPA and the Brookings Institution were included in pension reform legislation allowing employers to automatically enroll all employees in diversified portfolios.
  • More than 78 million baby boomers will be able to work beyond age 65 without losing Social Security benefits; nearly 2 million senior citizens are currently working and producing thanks to the NCPA's proposal to abolish the Social Security earnings penalty
  • Largely because of the work of NCPA Distinguished Fellow, Bob McTeer, Mark to Market Accounting rules were eased allowing for more flexibility in measuring fair value of assets and the sale of toxic assets.

Health Care

  • At least 16 million families are managing their own health care dollars through Health Savings Accounts.

Environment/Energy Communications Program (E-Team)

  • With over 8,000 copies distributed, the NCPA's "A Global Warming Primer" has been our most successful publication to date and has been translated into Spanish and Czech.

Family and Small Business Policy

  • The FPC provided the policy ideas which generated the introduction of the Workplace Flexibility Act authored by Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers.

Other Initiatives

  • Debate Central, an online resource for high school debaters, provides students from disadvantaged and low-income school districts with free access to the best debate material available. The web site is an invaluable service for high school debaters nationwide, as well as hundreds of thousands of students in high school speech and government classes.
  • The advertising equivalent value of NCPA media coverage in 2008 reached $65.8 million.
  • Nearly 30 million people visited NCPA Web sites in 2008 and more than 17 million have already visited through June, 2009.  
  • Public policy internships for students are provided in both the Dallas and Washington, D.C. offices.

NCPA Ideas in Progress

Tax and Retirement Policy Reform Initiatives

  • Adoption of a simple, flat-rate tax system
  • Responsible long-term spending objectives, including reduction of Social Security and Medicare debts
  • Permanent extensions for capital gains, gift and estate tax cuts
  • Change tax law to allow employers to offer employees individually-owned, personal and portable insurance
  • Advocate for the elimination of Social Security's long-term debt using personal retirement accounts
  • Make traditional defined benefit plans personal and portable
  • Expand Individual Retirement Accounts
  • Create universal Roth IRAs

Health Care Initiatives

  • Make premiums for Health Savings Accounts purchased in the private market tax deductible
  • Expand HSAs to include more flexibility addressing seniors, the poor and chronic conditions
  • Encouraging innovative entrepreneurial services such as retail clinics, medical tourism, and telemedicine
  • Advocate consumerism-allowing patient choice in spending health care dollars

Environment/Energy Communications Program (E-Team) Initiatives

  • Educate Americans that increased energy production and environmental quality can be compatible
  • Advocate using appropriate environmental safe-guards while removing barriers to domestic production and delivery
  • Ensure that government regulations first do no harm and are only undertaken after a thorough cost/benefit analysis has shown that the harm to be prevented will be greater than the costs caused by the regulations.
  • Demonstrate how markets can be used to protect endangered species, deliver water and improve energy production, improving the environment, the economy and national security.   

Family Policy Center

  • Address how policy affects individuals- targeting families and business owners.
  • The FPC is providing policy ideas to Congress for portable health insurance.The goal is for these ideas to be introduced very soon in the House of Representatives.

Other Initiatives

  • Expand public access to NCPA ideas through integrated marketing using print, broadcast and online media.