Opinion
State reserves may not be enough
Employers are hiring people back, but not as robustly as we need them to. North Carolina’s labor market is still down 326,000 jobs since February.
Opinion
Pols can’t be daydream believers
What if North Carolina doesn’t end up getting as much federal relief as expected for state and local government? What if it has lots of strings attached?
Opinion
N.C. DOT overspent in its rush to spend $670 million
The N.C. Department of Transportation has a cash shortfall. But not for the reasons department officials are giving. They had a deliberate policy to spend cash with little regard for normal safeguards. The House Transportation Committee recommended a bill to provide $660 million in emergency funding so the department doesn’t lay off 500-600 workers and delay...
Opinion
States are better governed
Even if Washington confiscated every dollar received by every American in excess of $500,000 a year, that would yield only $11.8 trillion in new revenue over the next decade — less than currently projected deficits.
Opinion
Both parties should prioritize savings
Prudently and methodically, the General Assembly has spent years building up financial reserves even as critics faulted lawmakers for saving dollars rather than spending them.
Opinion
Push back on budget deficits
State policymakers should resist the urge to treat “Washington” as a cash machine, since it has no money to spit out unless it first taxes us or borrows against future tax hikes.
Opinion
State leaders won’t blow surplus
House Speaker Tim Moore, Senate leader Phil Berger, and their colleagues are determined not to repeat North Carolina's sad history of spending too much during boom years and then having to raise regressive sales taxes during recessionary years.
Opinion
FLASHBACK: Tax cuts are not self-financing
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 have gotten right what Republicans...
Opinion
Shrinking government takes courage
When it comes to acting on fiscally conservative principles, there are important differences between Republican lawmakers in Raleigh and Republican politicians in Washington, D.C.
Opinion
Tax cuts are not self-financing
While North Carolina’s GOP leaders may share a party label with Kansas Republicans or the Trump administration, their approach to fiscal policy has been quite different.
Opinion
Fiscal uncertainty hurts state economy
North Carolina had the eighth-highest “policy uncertainty” score in the country in the run up to the Great Recession, as well as the sixth-largest jump in unemployment.
Opinion
Respond wisely to next recession
The best way to head off an economically damaging tax increase while protecting core services is to keep overall spending growth modest during good economic times.
