Spending & Taxes

Three weeks ago today, Governor Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency due to the spread of COVID-19.  One day later, John Locke Foundation researchers paused all other projects and got…

Other states have begun to worry about the coronavirus shutdown’s impact on their economies and state government finances. Energy producing states like Colorado and Texas must deal with plummeting…

It’s the perfect setup for a late-night comedian’s monologue: The coronavirus is so serious it has President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi agreeing on something and caused the…

Our budget stalemate may have an unexpected and unintended benefit. Because the General Assembly and Gov. Roy Cooper could not agree on a new budget, state government has been operating…

Families, employers, universities, health care providers, insurance companies, health care companies across North Carolina and the rest of the country, and governments at all levels are responding to coronavirus disease…

North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has a history of breaking budgets with lax controls over Medicaid spending. It took nearly three years under Gov. Pat McCrory…

After we posted a summary last week on sales tax referenda in four counties (Chatham, Forsyth, Madison, and Wayne), a citizen in Alamance County alerted us that a sales…

Another election, another opportunity for counties to ask voters to raise the sales tax. Only two of 25 tax votes have passed when held in conjunction with presidential primaries, with…

At a certain age, everyone begins to wonder, “Have I saved enough for retirement?” For most people, the answer is that they have not and will not. Governments have not…

Executive Summary North Carolina’s Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement System (TSERS) is widely recognized as being among the nation’s healthiest pension plan systems, currently almost 90 percent funded at a…