John Locke Updates: 2018

With new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, I have updated the charts from my report last year on “The Market Forces Behind North Carolina’s Falling Emissions“:…

For many years, it was generally accepted that two features of North Carolina’s asset forfeiture regime made it the best in the country. First, under our criminal forfeiture…

With six weeks to go until the May primaries, voters in at least a dozen North Carolina counties should start considering whether they should vote for or against proposed…

America has always been a country on the move. Across the ocean, across the continent, and, for decades after the frontier officially closed, Americans have moved away from (and often…

Sometimes we know the answer but dislike its implications so much we try to avoid it to find the easier way around it — and usually fail. Such as the…

Back in October, General Fund revenues were $50.4 million behind projections, not much when the state expects to collect $23.1 billion for the year. Despite the relatively small difference, the…

At last count, 12 North Carolina counties will include an increase in the local sales tax on their May ballots.  In all 12 of those counties, it’s a bad idea. …

On many different occasions, I have argued that, from an economics perspective, North Carolina should abolish its tax on capital gains. But leaving economic analysis aside, assuming that…

As Carolina Journal readers know, North Carolina Republicans have raised objections to Gov. Cooper’s Atlantic Cost Pipeline fund. One of their objections is that Cooper effectively forced the pipeline…

Liberals like small homes that are close to shopping and attractions, while conservatives prefer to have larger properties and drive longer distances to the store. This is one of the…