Research Reports: Policy Report

Robeson County officials want a quarter-cent sales tax hike and promise a two-cent reduction in the property tax rate. The net effect would be like a two-cent property tax hike, since the sales tax increases would bring in an additional $2.3 million a year, while the reduction in property tax revenues would be only $1.2 million. Robeson County taxpayers have already been hit with a two-cent tax increase with revaluation, so a vote to approve the sales-tax hike would mean a $2.3 million tax increase from last year.

County and municipal governments provide many key services while taking in billions of dollars in revenue. Their roles grow as state government keeps more local funding sources and shifts more taxing power to localities. Still, finding comparative data is difficult. This report helps address that problem by providing information of how much local government costs in every city and county in North Carolina.

This glossary defines and explains terms used in the consultant's report, "Diagnostic & Approach Report" (DAR), which contains recommendations for implementing Raleigh's newly approved 2030 Comprehensive Plan.

The excessive regulatory power allowed by North Carolina imposes great costs on its citizens and businesses and hurts the economic competitiveness of the state. This report identifies seven reforms that North Carolina should adopt to improve the regulatory environment in the state.

Governments have been seeking ways to adopt or advertise their efforts at open government, sunshine, and transparency. Recent history is rife, however, with examples of how they have failed - such as Gov. Mike Easley's financial dealings and the hole in the state health plan.

Open government is just as important in a modern republic as it was two centuries ago. Larger bureaucratic states threatened to overwhelm the ability of citizens and their representatives to keep track of government.

According to the North Carolina General Statutes, school boards have three broad functions: 1) to maintain general control and supervision of all matters pertaining to the public schools, 2) to enforce and execute the school law, and 3) to ensure that the administration of schools is efficiently and more economically accomplished. To simplify the process of understanding the work of school boards, the John Locke Foundation has developed a checklist for school board candidates and citizens.

City council members hold the reins of the first level of government that affects most North Carolinians. With a proper perspective on the uses and limits of government, these leaders can foster prosperity in their communities through free individuals pursuing their own dreams without fear of the city arbitrarily curtailing their activities or usurping their property or wealth.

In 2007, the passage of Senate Bill 3 (SB 3) in North Carolina required that all of the state's public electric utilities increase the percentage of electricity generated from new renewable energy sources. The Beacon Hill Institute in conjunction with the John Locke Foundation has set out to estimate the costs and benefits of SB 3 and its impact on the state's economy.

This guide is a first step in a larger effort to correct decades-old misconceptions about North Carolina's private schools. In the spring of 2009, the John Locke Foundation conducted a survey of all private schools in North Carolina. Much of the information below comes from responses to the questionnaire.