The Blog at MSPC

Wildfire will remain part of life in the Mountain West. The question is whether states will continue paying primarily after disaster strikes or invest more deliberately before the next fire begins.

When Idaho lawmakers passed the state's new parental choice tax credit in 2025, we knew it wouldn't take long to determine whether the program would be a success. After all, implementation was almost immediate, and the law was hailed as the nation's "best education choice program." Still, it was important to help families understand the system, and defend the law from an expected court challenge.

A strong transit system in Idaho’s Treasure Valley would greatly improve mobility, but as it stands today, the program desperately needs an overhaul.

If states want tax relief that does more than provide temporary relief—if we want a tax cut that changes the state's long-term economic trajectory—then reducing the individual income tax should be near the top of the list. And Montana is front and center in the current conversation.

The underlying study explains that lower marginal rates can encourage additional economic activity as businesses invest, employment expands, wages rise and personal income grows.

After years of lectures from Seattle about the dangers that dams pose to fish, a multibillion-dollar Seattle-area transit project appears to be literally shocking them.

Seattle’s threat of an illegal strike should be a warning. Washington’s education system should put children at the center of every spending decision.

Had the bit tax been adopted, what was once framed as a trivial tax—half a cent to download a photo, or a cent to send 100 emails—would now cost the average American household an estimated $784,000 per year.

Rapidly increasing property tax bills are a real concern. The question is which property tax reforms offer the best path to foster fairness, stability, transparency, and fiscal restraint.

Mountain States Policy Center today released a major new study examining Montana’s 1972 Constitution and making the case that voters should seriously consider calling a new constitutional convention when the question returns to the statewide ballot in 2030.

The vivid contrast between Seattle and Bellevue is a lesson every municipality in the country can learn from. Imposing high local taxes and onerous regulations incentivizes individuals and businesses to look to neighboring jurisdictions for relief.

It takes an average of 18 to 36 months to rebuild a home burnt by wildfire in mere minutes, and most communities ravaged in an afternoon will take decades to be restored. Every day of this process is a day too long, but bureaucratic delays should not be adding months to the permitting process.

Idaho should keep two-year terms for members of the House but move state senators to four-year terms, staggered so roughly half the Senate is elected every two years.

Idaho should absolutely provide the resources necessary to give every public school student a quality education. And policymakers should design a funding system that recognizes legitimate attendance fluctuations and gives districts reasonable predictability from year to year. But predictability cannot become an excuse to disconnect funding from reality.

An economy is simply too complicated for any individual, committee, government agency, or computer system to know everything necessary to plan it from the top down. The information required to make good economic decisions is scattered among millions of people, and much of that information changes constantly.

Congratulations, everyone. The politicians saved the grocery stores. Except, of course, for the ones that are closing.

Idaho holds a distinction that should concern policymakers in Boise: Idaho has the highest flat individual income tax rate in the country.

Society should work towards putting patients in charge of their health care, reducing the role of government, focusing on access, and ending bureaucratic central planning of medical careers.

A new study from consumer spending site WalletHub recently ranked the “Best States to Live” across the country, with Idaho grabbing the top spot in the study. The other Mountain States scored relatively well, with Wyoming coming in sixth and Montana 14th, though Washington state ranked in the bottom half at 33rd.

Before Idaho's next property-tax debate becomes another argument about assessments, exemptions and tax shifts, let's put government spending on the table too.