The Blog at MSPC

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.

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.

Government should protect individual rights and hold people responsible when they cause actual harm. But punishing harmful conduct is different from controlling the underlying technology.

Supporters are free to make their case. They can argue that only a small percentage of Washingtonians will pay the tax. They can argue that its revenue is necessary to pay for government services and tax reductions elsewhere. But the media has a different job. It shouldn't make the branding decision for voters.

The direction of the evidence is remarkably consistent. Lower and flatter income taxes are associated with faster growth, higher incomes, improved compliance, stronger competitiveness, and greater protection against future tax increases.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Those states that work to facilitate a functional AI ecosystem will be best positioned for efficient governance and economic success. The time to act is now.

One of the reasons socialism continues to appeal to new generations is that it begins with goals that almost everyone shares.

The study isn't asking whether removing the dams is wise. It's asking how to replace them after they're gone. That's not an honest analysis. It's an attempt to justify a predetermined political objective. The study isn't asking whether removing the dams is wise. It's asking how to replace them after they're gone. That's not an honest analysis. It's an attempt to justify a predetermined political objective.

Every year, millions of Americans make one of the biggest decisions of their lives: whether to stay where they are or move somewhere they believe offers greater opportunity. They aren’t just choosing a new home. They’re choosing a different set of public policies.

Education debates almost always begin with the premise that schools need more funding. Rarely do we hear a definition of success. Is it another $100 million? Another $500 million? A billion? At what point would education leaders say, "Yes, this is sufficient"?

Over the past decade, individual income tax collections increased from $1.06 billion in Fiscal Year 2014 to $2.24 billion in Fiscal Year 2024. That's an increase of more than 111 percent.

Despite lawsuits, repeal efforts, and relentless political attacks, thousands of Idaho families still chose educational opportunity for their children.