The city of Charlotte has agreed to settle a lawsuit by the family of a Weddington woman killed when a tree fell and crushed her SUV on East Boulevard in the spring of 2008.
Kay Plyler, an assistant town manager of Matthews, was driving with her 14-year-old daughter, Taylor Yeaton, when [...]
Supporters of the Dell deal in 2004 promised the state taxpayers that they would benefit from the $300 million tax giveaway deal. With Dell’s closing, even Speaker Joe Hackney is still trying to convince the [...]
Almost one-third of all taxpayers now pay no taxes or have a negative tax liability. And for the first time ever, the top 1 percent of taxpayers pay more in taxes than the bottom 95 percent. This is not healthy for a republic, but it’s great for those who [...]
As detailed in our recent Part I and Part II Position Papers on the subject, Cary’s Recycling Program is costing taxpayers millions with no clear environmental benefit. We propose changing the program to an “Opt-In” basis, with all participants covering the entire net costs, or reaping the entire [...]
Spending other people’s money is way too easy, as this story illustrates. The fact that no City of Raleigh staff member blinked an eye at spending $9,854.66 on hors d’oeurves and drinks for a city council reception is absolutely outrageous. And, as the News & Observer rightly points out [...]
This Thursday, Dec. 3, the John Locke Foundation and the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy will co-sponsor a public forum on the issue of taxpayer funded arts education. It should be a fascinating discussion featuring three experts with varying perspectives.
The event coincides with the publication of a paper [...]
JLF’s Terry Stoops assigns each North Carolina school district a “parent-friendly grade” in a recent report available here. Unfortunately, Guilford County’s grade dropped from C to C-, while Forsyth’s grade dropped from D+ to D.
With the report in mind, it’s important to remember that we —the taxpayers —- [...]
Something’s definitely up with the corner of South Elm and Lee here in Greensboro. The N&R reported on Friday that the redevelopment commission had decided to “would seek out a master developer to oversee the redevelopment,” a decision that “effectively dashed the plans of a Tennessee-based developer and the [...]
Lanier Cansler, secretary at the state Department of Health and Human Services, is attempting to deflect some of the intense criticism leveled at his agency over planned cuts to home nursing services for severely disabled children and adults.
In a guest column printed on the editorial page of The N&O [...]
The cost of bigotry idiocy
If NC state Senator Jim Forrester had his way, North Carolina taxpayers would be over $5 million poorer this November.
As he does every legislative session, Senator Forrester filed a bill this past February to write discrimination into the state constitution -- even though marriage [...]
This should be a warning to any local government entity looking to invest taxpayers’ money in an entertainment venue. (Sorry Winston-Salem, too late for you.)
The Pontiac Silverdome —site of all those Thanksgiving Day football games —- has just been sold. The price: $583,000, after taxpayers spent $55 million [...]
After a seven-year effort, ridership in Cary’s C-Tran bus system remains miniscule and the cost to taxpayers is excessively high. This Position Paper from the Cary Watchmen looks at the facts and provides some recommendations for the future of public transportation in Cary. [...]
Media stories and political spin about government budget “cuts” often need a translator for taxpayers to understand the true picture. It’s common practice to label something a “cut” when in reality it simply means that government is spending less on something than it had previously hoped to spend – even [...]
So much for the spin that taxpayers will actually benefit after Dell repays city and county economic incentives used to lure the company to Forsyth County.
Give Forsyth commissioners credit for pondering a tax rebate, but the city’s media partner, the Winston-Salem Journal, pronounces any such rebate “negligible.” You [...]
Are you tired of unresponsive government? You may stand around and get counted like a dork, and maybe even talk to a legislator by joining the Taxpayers’ March on Raleigh this Saturday. Also, Senator Richard Burr will be in Asheville Thursday and Friday.
[...]The federal government continues to encourage irresponsibility. It wishes to redistribute earnings, confiscated from taxpayers too poor to hire accountants to find tax loopholes, to persons naïve enough to suppose if they can’t make a down payment on a house they will somehow be able to keep up with [...]
