The Blog at MSPC

History has proven time and again that free markets reward work, raise living standards, and create opportunity.

This one-stop portal supports the initiative that government services should be organized around the people who use them, not the bureaucracy that administers them.

Idaho taxpayers spend millions of dollars supporting public colleges and universities each year. But are they getting the results they deserve?

Jennings' advertisement is so demonstrably false it raises a larger question: why is Jeopardy! allowing him to sully its reputation?

Prediction markets are not going to give us a sports almanac. But they can give us something valuable: A better understanding of what thousands of citizens believe the future may hold.

Is a potato created by a farmer, a packer, or a wholesaler? If the potato is turned into French fries, who is responsible for the packaging fees under Extended Producer Responsibility laws?

From protecting children online to managing public lands, this year’s Sawtooth Leadership Academy finalists have taken on some of the most pressing policy questions facing the Mountain States.

The goal should be straightforward: keep Montana’s rivers healthy, accessible, and productive for the people and communities that depend on them—today and for generations to come.

States and local governments are the policymakers holding the sledgehammers to significantly address the housing crisis by removing barriers to supply.

Under the proposal, homeowners would need to have lived in Wyoming for at least one year and occupied their primary residence for at least six months of the previous tax year. The exemption would apply to the residential structure, excluding land.

The study highlights a distinction voters should understand: the $1 million exemption is established in statute, rather than protected by the state constitution. Lawmakers could change that exemption through future legislation, potentially extending the tax to additional taxpayers.

With the federal rules now on the table, Washington's remaining question is no longer how the program will work. It is whether the state will participate. Taxpayers and students in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming are already set up to benefit from the new federal Education Freedom Tax credit.

The Idaho Education Association is cutting roughly 13% of its staff, eliminating four organizer positions, closing all five of its regional offices and scaling back its annual Summer Institute. In other words, it is dealing with a major budget mess. And it has no one to blame but itself.

Politicians and the media are claiming approval of Initiative 645 will "cut funding" for public schools, higher education and health care. There's only one problem - it's not true.

It is vital for the judicial branch to hold the legislative branch to the same standard it uses to override citizen-approved ballot measures. If the legislature is going to pass omnibus tax bills and policy “hot messes,” the people should be free to exercise their right of initiative to respond.

The study finds a statewide, one-size-fits-all solution would be especially difficult because Idaho counties have vastly different property values and retail economies.

“Medicare For All” has an estimated cost of $32 trillion dollars for the first ten years. Tax increases would be in the neighborhood of 20 percent, with a serious detrimental impact on the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

You may have heard objections to Governor Gianforte’s proposal to move Montana to a flat income tax. We’ve heard those objections before. Experience proved that they were wrong then. And they are wrong now. Here are the facts.

Here’s one statistic Wyoming should seek to shed: being first in the Mountain West in Small Business Administration (SBA) pandemic loan fraud on a per capita basis.

By adopting I-645, voters would have the opportunity to restore the state’s “competitive advantage” of no personal income taxes while working to increase faith in Washington’s business climate.