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 same way, just for more people. With these...
Mixed signals. Some things are clear — lower taxes, fewer regulations, skilled workers, and efficient infrastructure lead to economic growth. A robust and growing business community creates jobs. Vouchers offer opportunities to low-income students, and school choice leads to better and more fulfilling educational outcomes. Investments in education and public safety pay off. Some things...
Stark differences in conservative Republican and liberal Democratic fiscal priorities were clearly on display during a Senate Finance Committee meeting Wednesday at which a $1 billion tax cut package was approved by voice vote. Senate Bill 325 was then forwarded to the Senate Rules Committee, where it was passed Thursday morning, and now heads to...
RALEIGH — A state legislator is hoping to give disabled veterans and spouses of fallen first responders a break on their property tax bills. Rep. Nelson Dollar, R-Wake, has filed a bill removing homestead exemption caps for disabled veterans. “Currently for disabled veterans the homestead exclusion is only up to $45,000 of assessed value,” Dollar...
Perhaps the biggest task facing a Republican-controlled General Assembly when it returns from a two-week hiatus Wednesday is finding common ground with a new Democratic governor, and vice versa. That’s a significant challenge, considering the contentious nature of last year’s special sessions and the flurry of lawsuits that followed. Lawmakers will work toward passing a $22...
Lawsuits. Veto threats. Power grabs. Protests. My rights, his rights. No one’s right. What a way to end 2016. Recovering from one of most contentious elections and a special session of the General Assembly tarnished by constitutional challenges, most North Carolinians are left asking, can’t we all just get along? Ideas are powerful things. Not...
Regardless of the election results, on Wednesday all of us at the John Locke Foundation will come to work with the same goal we’ve had since the doors opened in 1990: Restraining government to its core, constitutional functions and enacting policies that expand freedom and opportunity for North Carolinians. Here are two priorities for the...
Becki Gray, John Locke Foundation vice president for outreach, answers host Tom Campbell’s question about the impact of recent N.C. tax reforms. This exchange took place during the Jan. 24, 2016, episode of N.C. Spin.
Dr. Stephen Walters, professor of economics at Loyola University in Maryland, discusses one way to improve flagging urban cores. Walters offered these comments during an interview for Carolina Journal Radio (Program No. 661).
Dr. Roy Cordato, John Locke Foundation vice president for research and resident scholar, explains why North Carolina should repeal its tax on capital gains. Cordato offered these comments during an interview with Donna Martinez for Carolina Journal Radio (Program No. 656).
Becki Gray, John Locke Foundation vice president for outreach, assesses the political left’s critique of North Carolina’s recent tax reform measures. Gray offered these comments during an interview with Donna Martinez for Carolina Journal Radio (Program No. 655).
