Joseph Coletti

As official Washington deepens its commitment to deficits and debt regardless of potential inflation or other repercussions, I recently came across an International Monetary Fund working paper by Paulo Mauro and Jing Zhou who found, “Government borrowing costs [on new debt] often rise abruptly and sharply, but just…

Even as the  federal government fights over $900 billion in new spending related to COVID-19, North Carolina’s surprisingly strong financial position, a result of past prudence and continued standoffs on spending, has prompted calls for more state spending despite remaining uncertainty on future budgets. Last month we introduced the…

North Carolina’s tax and fee collections continued to improve from a year ago, according to the latest General Fund Monthly Report from the Office of the State Controller. Individual income tax revenue for November was up to $870.8 million, $50 billion ahead of November 2019 collections. Sales taxes…

UNC Professor Zeynep Tufekci says public health officials missed an opportunity this summer: we should have made it a priority to encourage people to recharge, psychologically, as much as possible over the summer. Instead, in a lot of places, we acted like we were still in the worst phase…

The Charlotte Ledger Business Newsletter provides the latest example of unintended consequences: Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools seems to face an unusual dilemma: To reopen middle schools, the district needs bus drivers. But under a new federal law, many bus drivers and other workers with children can stay home and draw guaranteed…

Tax collections for the six months from April through September continue to track closely with the same period a year ago ($13.145 billion in 2020 vs $13.225 billion in 2019, -0.6%), according to the new General Fund Monthly Report from the Office of the State Controller. Tax revenue in…

Not in North Carolina, but a federal judge has declared, “The constitution cannot accept the concept of a ‘new normal’ where the basic liberties of the people can be subordinated to open-ended emergency mitigation measures.” Four counties in Pennsylvania won their federal lawsuit against Gov. Tom Wolf and Secretary of…

The full picture for 2019 income taxes is now available, but it does not provide much clarity about the revenue picture for the rest of FY2020-21. The latest General Fund Monthly Report from the Office of the State Controller includes the final income tax payments delayed from April. Personal…