A recent examination by the Tax Foundation shows North Carolina’s high net migration rate may be due to its friendly tax climate. The nonprofit, nonpartisan group annually examines migration trends, using data from United Van Lines, the largest moving company in…
Assigning infallibility to government action is a fool’s errand. It’s a common refrain in libertarian and conservative circles, and its truth is grounded in history, as well as the government’s continuing and ubiquitous intrusion and overreach. I won’t take credit for the aforementioned paraphrased…
As Tears for Fears sang in the 1980s, everybody wants their taxes lower. Well, that might not be the exact line, but the sentiment is shared across the political spectrum. Still, examples in other states and at the federal level provide frequent reminders that cutting taxes without cutting spending is…
“Hey! Did you pay taxes on those drugs, mister? Probably not, right?” Unless you are buying your marijuana from a dispensary in a state where it’s legal, you probably aren’t paying taxes on your illicit substances. If not, you are likely committing two crimes: possession of a controlled substance and…
What’s the theme for limited government, personal responsibility, opportunity and freedom across North Carolina for the 2018 election cycle? Keep on keepin’ on. Reforms since 2011 have transformed our state into an economic powerhouse, creating jobs and opportunities like never before. Tax cuts begun in 2011 have put $5 billion back into the…
Editor’s note: This Daily Journal by John Locke Foundation Chairman John Hood originally ran here May 30, 2017. We are running it again in response to a story,”What happened when North Carolina cut taxes like the GOP plans to for the country,” published Sunday in The Washington Post. North Carolina Republicans…
Should you ever be taxed on “income” that is not, in any meaningful sense, yours? This is the fundamental question facing Congress in deciding whether to eliminate the deductibility of state income and local property taxes from federal taxable income, a policy change proposed by President Trump. Unfortunately, this question is unlikely…
There’s been a lot written about this year’s state budget, and there will be more. That’s what happens when you’re dealing with a 438-page bill allocating $24 billion. A lot of money, a lot of competing interests, a lot of detail. I looked at local government allocations in the budget previously, and it comes…
If you are a North Carolina taxpayer and you think something looks familiar about President Trump’s tax reform plan, you are right. In the three big areas of tax policy where the state and federal code overlap —the income tax, the estate or death tax, and the corporate tax —…
The Insider reported recently about a Fiscal Research Division analysis showing the Senate’s “Billion Dollar Middle Class Tax Cut” would lead to $600 million shortfalls in three of the next five years. Fiscal staff started from the assumption that state government would do all the same things the…
