About the Author/The Thomas Jefferson Fellowship

About the Author

This report was authored by 2012 Thomas Jefferson Fellow Devin Bowen.

Devin holds a B.S.B.A. in Economics from Duquesne University. Currently, she is a second year Mercatus M.A. Fellow in the Department of Economics at George Mason University.  Her primary research interests include, tax policy, finance issues, and international policies.

As of 2012, Devin has co-authored a Commonwealth Foundation policy analysis and two Mercatus working papers. Additionally, she has presented solo-authored and co-authored papers. The first was a policy analysis of urban congestion in London, presented at the Eastern Economic Association in 2010, in New York City.  The second co-authored piece is a piece on regulation and entrepreneurial activity, which was presented at the 2012 Association for Private Enterprise Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In 2010, Devin was a Commonwealth Foundation Research Fellow. As a fellow she had the opportunity to participate in policy analysis and begin her experience in research and publication.

Devin was awarded the Thomas Jefferson Fellowship in March 2012.

The Thomas Jefferson Fellowship

The Cost of Government Day Report is published in the context of the Thomas Jefferson Fellowship, a program run by the Cost of Government Center (COGC). COGC offers this fellowship to a graduate or highly qualified undergraduate student with a background in the field of economics interested in the areas of federal and state fiscal and regulatory policy.

The fellowship is named after one of the most influential thinkers in American history, and one of the leading proponents of accountable government Thomas Jefferson, Founding Father and third president of the United States of America.

Acknowledging that the American people and their economy can be thrive and prosper when the role of government is limited and subject to the scrutiny of taxpayers, the Cost of Government Center seeks to shed light on government expenditures, and to promote the Jeffersonian ideals of fiscal accountability, fiscal restraint and free market principles.

The aim of the fellowship is to offer a student the opportunity to work independently in the area of federal and state fiscal and regulatory policy and in collaboration with prominent experts and institutions in the field.  The primary task during the fellow’s time is to craft COGC’s hallmark study, the “Cost of Government Day^® Report.”

2012 Report

• About the Author/The Thomas Jefferson Fellowship
• A Message from Grover Norquist and COGC Executive Director Mattie Duppler
• Overview of Results
• Cost of Government Day Components
• State by State Breakdown
• The Government Spending Burden
• State Tax Increases
• Government Employees
• The Regulatory Burden
• Interstate Migration

Case Studies

• Taxmageddon
• The Debt Ceiling and Budget Control Act of 2011
• The Corporate Income Tax in the United States
• Abundance of Supply: America's Energy Resources

Methodology
Chart Room
COGD Launch Event: Sin Tax Party
Media Coverage
2011 Report