States with lower tax rates, lower debt and fewer government restrictions generally have stronger economic outlooks, according to the latest report that ranks states from best to worst based on how friendly their policies are to economic growth.
The American Legislative Exchange Council released its “Rich States Poor States” report Tuesday. The report ranks states based on “economic outlook” using 15 factors.
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New Jersey, California, New York, Texas and Illinois face a hundred billion plus deficit when it comes to paying for the benefits other than pensions promised to state retirees.
The State of New Jersey’s unfunded liability for post-retirement benefits other than pensions in state health care plans reached $174.9 billion in 2022. That was the highest in the country, according to a report by the American Legislative Exchange Council. The report stated the nationwide costs of state-sponsored post-retirement benefits reached $1.14 trillion in 2022.
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The American Legislative Exchange Council held their national annual conference in Scottsdale last week, which included a pre-session for legislators with the Honest Elections Project (HEP). HEP is focusing on three issues relating to elections currently, and is proposing draft model legislation that legislators can introduce on a few issues. One is Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), which is gearing up to be a huge fight on the 2024 ballot in Arizona.
Three progressive groups are pushing RCV in Arizona. However, the Arizona Legislature has also referred a proposition to the ballot in 2024 that would stop RCV. HEP has extensively looked into how RCV works, and determined that it ends up putting far left Democrats into office, not moderates as some would expect. HEP’s fact sheet went over several races where it was used and showed how it facilitates this, undermining the Constitution’s principle of one person, one vote.
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Arizona State Rep. Quang Nguyen, R-Prescott Valley, told an audience in Scottsdale on Wednesday about what actions Republican lawmakers may take in the next session targeting public universities on free speech issues.
“We actually drafted quite a few things, including changes to ABOR – Arizona Board of Regents – to sort of make things a little tighter,” he said on a panel at the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council’s annual summit.
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Residents of blue states with aggressive climate policies are paying significantly more for electricity and fuel than red states, according to a new report by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
California, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New York and New Jersey are seven of the top eight continental states in terms of highest average retail electricity prices in 2023, according to ALEC’s report. Each of these states have some sort of green energy mandate, which the ALEC report refers to as a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), or participates in a greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program, or both.
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An education choice advocacy group says personal education tax credits are popular with parents nationwide, and Georgia lawmakers could soon move on education reform.
With education tax credits, an alternative to Education Savings Accounts, parents or guardians receive a credit when they choose a non-public school for their dependent’s education. According to the group yes. every kid., states can use existing tax mechanisms for these policies, and parents or guardians receive a tax refund by indicating on a tax form or an application their dependent isn’t enrolled in public school.
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According to a recent report, Florida is the nation’s best for education freedom, but one expert says only minor changes are needed for a perfect score.
The American Legislative Exchange Council recently put Florida at the top of its 2023 ALEC Index of State Education Freedom: A 50-State Guide to Parental Empowerment rankings.
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Tennessee ranked No. 6 nationally with a grade of B in the ALEC Index of State Education Freedom.
Grades were scored overall from tabulating funding and financing programs; charter schools; homeschooling; virtual schooling; and open enrollment. The overall score was 71.5 points, which trailed only Florida (95), Arkansas (92), Indiana (86.6), Arizona (84) and Iowa (78)
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After a legislative session where Florida lawmakers passed universal school choice, the state was recognized as the nation’s best in a recent report for its policies on education.
The nonprofit American Legislative Exchange Council, which previously published the Report Card on American Education over the past 25 years, has a new publication, The Index of State Education Freedom: A 50-State Guide to Parental Empowerment.
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Florida is yet again one of the top 10 ranked states for economic performance and economic outlook.
The annual Rich States, Poor States report from the American Legislative Exchange Council shows the Sunshine State outperforming all other states economically over the past decade and for net in-migration, thanks to the state’s low tax burdens and worker-friendly policies.
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A new report ranks all 50 states from best to worst for economic conditions, showing which states have improved, and worsened, in creating an economic climate where businesses want to invest.
The American Legislative Exchange Council released the state analysis, which ranks Utah as the number one state, North Carolina as second, and Arizona as third. Idaho and Oklahoma fill out the top five spots, ranking fourth and fifth, respectively.
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According to a new analysis by the nonprofit American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Pennsylvania ranks 46th among states for economic performance and 35th for economic outlook.
Now in its 16th edition, ALEC’s Rich States, Poor States compares states’ economic posture based on 15 policy factors. Pennsylvania’s performance only ranked ahead of West Virginia, Connecticut, Alaska and — in dead last — Louisiana.
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Unfunded state pension liabilities have climbed to $8.28 trillion, or nearly $25,000 for every person in the United States, according to a new report from the American Legislative Exchange Council.
The American Legislative Exchange Council released the latest edition of its report on pensions in all 50 states Thursday. The report, “Unaccountable and Unaffordable 2021,” shows just a handful of states with outsize pension liabilities account for a large share of overall pension debt in the U.S.
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Each person in Ohio is on the hook for more than $36,000 in unfunded state pension liabilities, one of the highest numbers in the nation, according to a new report from the American Legislative Exchange Council.
Nationwide, unfunded state pension liabilities have climbed to $8.28 trillion, or nearly $25,000 for every person in the United States. ALEC released the latest edition of its report on pensions in all 50 states Thursday. The report, “Unaccountable and Unaffordable 2021,” shows just a handful of states with outsize pension liabilities accounting for a large share of overall pension debt in the U.S.
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Thanks to a rare bipartisan effort in Richmond, patients in Virginia will soon have fewer costly surprises on their hospital bills.
After passing unanimously through the Senate and House of Delegates last week, HB 481, which requires Virginia hospitals to make public a list of standard charges for all items and services provided, now heads to Gov. Youngkin’s desk for his signature.
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Arizona Governor Doug Ducey is expected to sign a budget bill the Arizona Legislature sent to him on Friday that includes a historic tax reform package. HB 2900 implements the lowest flat tax in the country, 2.5%. The average Arizona family will see a 13% income tax reduction, about $350 per year. According to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, Arizona previously had one of the highest marginal income tax rates in the country.
The budget bill also eliminates taxes on veterans’ retirement pay and prevents a 77% increase on small business taxes. It reduces property taxes by 10% on small businesses and job creators by 10%, capping the maximum tax rate on businesses at 4.5% and reducing commercial property taxes. According to a report by Ducey, 43% of Arizonans in the private sector work for small businesses. HB 2900 increases the homeowner’s rebate so the state covers half of homeowners’ primary property taxes.
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Tennessee ranks as one of the top states in the nation in terms of how it funds its pension systems, according to a report that the Arlington, Virginia-based American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) released this week. ALEC officials titled their report Unaccountable and Unaffordable, 2020. This annual report collects and analyzes each state’s unfunded public pension liabilities. The report finds state governments’ unfunded liabilities total $5.82 trillion nationwide – an average of $17,748 per person.
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Cutting taxes, paying down debt and maintaining free market policies this past year helped Georgia and other states improve their rankings for economic competitiveness, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. An Arlington, Virginia-based organization this week released a report that praised Georgia, among other states, for its economic policies. Members of that group, The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) published the report, which they titled Rich States, Poor States. This is the report’s 14th edition.
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Tennessee’s Hall Tax, as of this coming Friday, will cease to exist.
Experts say that will bring new opportunities to Tennessee and make the state’s economy more competitive.
The Hall Tax, instituted in 1929, applies a 6 percent tax to Tennesseans’ interest and dividend income. In 2016 members of the Tennessee General Assembly phased out the Hall Income Tax over years of scheduled reductions.
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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee ranks seventh in The American Legislative Exchange Council’s new scorecard that assesses America’s 50 governors on policy performance and leadership before and after the start of the COVID-19 health crisis. Members of the Arlington, Virginia-based ALEC released their 2020 Laffer-ALEC Report on Economic Freedom Tuesday. “Tennessee Governor Lee has restrained state spending, including his billion-dollar proposed spending reduction for FY 2021. In lieu of lobbying for more federal subsidies, Governor Lee has proposed a further spending reduction to account for a decline in revenue expectations,” according to the ALEC report. “Along with these notable actions, his continuance of fiscally responsible debt, union, education, and welfare policies grant the Governor a five-star rating.” ALEC awarded each governor an overall rank, a results rank and a policy rank, which is expanded to list the exact criteria used so readers can identify how their state leader stacks up and why. Governors and taxpayers can also use the criteria to determine state policy areas that need improvement, such as tax and spending policy, handling of federal funds from the CARES Act and economic competitiveness data, according to an ALEC press release. Study co-author Stephen Moore said in the press…
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Tennessee tax revenues for the month of July exceeded the budgeted estimate by $667.1 million, Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration Commissioner Butch Eley announced Thursday.
Overall revenues of $1.86 billion in July were $689.4 million more than state revenues in July 2019.
The higher-than-expected revenues for July has the state finishing the 2019-2020 fiscal year in a surplus position of $369.2 million against the budgeted estimate and 2.42 percent above last year, despite the impacts of the COVID-19 economic slowdown.
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Tennessee ranks eighth out of 50 states in economic outlook, according to the 2020 edition of Rich States, Poor States, released Wednesday.
The Virginia-based American Legislative Exchange Council published the book. Economists Jonathan Williams, Art Laffer, and Stephen Moore wrote it. The authors say they base a state’s economic outlook ranking on its current standing in 15 state policy variables.
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Tennessee ranks 23rd this year on the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Annual Report Card on American Education.
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People are fleeing high tax states and relocating to states such as Tennessee, according to Stephen Moore of the American Legislative Exchange Council.
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State Senate Minority Chairwoman Raumesh Akbari, a Democrat, plans to sponsor legislation that could automatically help restore the right to vote for people with low-level felony convictions. But some research indicates felons, when given the chance, overwhelmingly pull the levers for Democrats. Is Akbari, who represents Memphis’ 91st District, doing this to help the Democratic Party? Akbari said no. Akbari said in an emailed statement to The Tennessee Star that she wants Democrats and Republicans to support her forthcoming bill. “I’m not drafting it to benefit a Republican or Democrat – but Tennesseans as a whole,” Akbari said, adding she has had meetings on this issue with the National Black Caucus of State Legislators. Those meetings, she said, also included members of the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council. “Our sole focus was coming up with bipartisan criminal justice reform initiatives we could all agree on. Some form of automatic restoration of voting rights was among one of the many ideas we discussed and agreed on,” Akbari said. “States that have some version of automatic restoration of rights varies- and many are traditionally Republican-led states like Utah, Texas, North Carolina, Missouri, Arizona, and Alaska. On a national level, I know at…
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