The Blog at MSPC

Featuring research and recommendations from MSPC's policy experts, the second edition examines some of the most pressing issues facing Idaho, Montana, Washington, and the nation, offering practical, fact-based alternatives to government expansion and excessive regulation.

If you distrust government with spending and tax decisions, why would you put politicians at your state capitol in charge of more of it? That's the question at the center of Idaho's current debate over property taxes. There is no statewide property tax in Idaho, but local governments can collect property tax revenue. Property taxes frustrate homeowners for understandable reasons. Paying off your mortgage does not end the annual bill. A rising home value does not put cash in y

Small businesses are an essential part of a strong economy, and in the Mountain West, recent data suggest that the entrepreneurial spirit remains strong. Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana all ranked among the top ten states nationwide for small-business growth.

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?

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.

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.

In 2025 alone, Idaho, Wyoming, Tennessee, Texas, and other states created or significantly expanded private education-choice programs.

Data centers act as the physical computing infrastructure of apps like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, as well as AI models. It’s not just a place to store photos on social media apps; these computer server warehouses connect people, help small businesses, and promote overall economic productivity.

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.

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.

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

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.

And a new ranking of business formation across the 50 states provides a revealing look at just how differently entrepreneurship is unfolding across America.