Budget, Taxation & Economy
At the state legislature, Locke advocates for limiting the expenditure of tax dollars and strictly limiting its tax burdens on families and businesses.
Covid bailout of states unnecessary and harmful
We have documented North Carolina’s strong financial condition and have argued against new federal money for months, even as we sought more rational rules on how that first round of…
Nine states now have enacted universal license recognition. Why not North Carolina?
Last week South Dakota became the ninth state to pass universal license recognition since 2019. Bill language introduced last year before the General Assembly would offer a way for North…
Rock stars cash in to avoid Biden tax hike
Bob Dylan. Lindsay Buckingham. Stevie Nicks. Bloomberg Businessweek reports these three are among the rock stars who’ve recently sold rights to their music. Dylan, who’s pushing 80, evidently has said…
Biden’s job-killing corporate tax hike explored
Tyler Van Dyke of the Washington Examiner highlights one of the Biden administration’s especially bad ideas on the corporate tax front. President Biden’s plan to increase the corporate tax rate…
Major discrepancies in state aid contained in House Covid relief bill
An analysis from Reason magazine finds that there is a significant variation in per-capita state and local aid contained in the latest Covid relief bill being debated on Capitol Hill.…
A major North Carolina city is one of the top performers in the nation
North Carolina is a beautiful state for myriad reasons. From the mountains to the coast, there’s so much to appreciate. Whether I’m hiking Grandfather Mountain or touring the USS North…
New Carolina Journal Online features
Andrew Dunn reports for Carolina Journal Online on the State Board of Elections’ recommendation to push back 2021 elections and the March 2022 primary. John Hood’s CJ Opinion explains why…
The NC Threat-Free Index for the week ending February 22
All things considered, over 99.5% of people in NC posed no threat of passing along COVID-19 to anyone — a virus most had never had and the rest had recovered…
Pressure mounts on Gov. Cooper
Two press releases I received today show the increasing pressure on Gov. Roy Cooper to proactively end the shutdown of North Carolina public schools and allow bars and taverns to…
Tip of the hat to North Carolina Republican Legislators
Leadership matters, and the chart below shows it in crystal clear terms. In North Carolina, we’re fortunate to have legislative leaders who take spending, taxing, and budgeting very seriously. Their…
Research finds incumbent governors release a flood of incentives during election years
In 2019, which was not an election year, Gov. Cooper pledged $146 million in incentives grants. In the election year of 2020, however, Cooper pledged over $519 million. That's over half a billion…
Closing shop at PED
Program Evaluation Division has served a useful purpose, but it was limited in what it could recommend. Partisan staff can more easily identify solutions, provide strategic advice, and answer “why”…