Regulations Destroy Innovation
We all lose out when harmful regulations crush innovations that could help our environment.
“The most serious dangers for American freedom and the American way of life do not come from without.” – Ludwig Von Mises
If you care about protecting Montana’s beautiful environment, you also must care about reducing unnecessary regulations on business.
A story in two frames:
In Helena, city regulations are crushing a new small business focused on environmentally sustainable waste removal. This business picks up food and yard waste from people’s curbs, diverting it from the landfill to be reused as compost.
Sounds like a great idea, right? Well, local ordinances say only the government can collect garbage, outlawing any private competition.
Critics of efforts to reduce unnecessary regulations on business often say that removing regulations will lead to environmental harm. But research shows the growth of thousands of regulations over time actually has the unintended consequence of making business practices less safe. In addition to that, we all lose out when harmful regulations crush innovations that could help our environment.
Environmental advocates should also support thoughtful and difficult cost-benefit decisions about the necessity of each regulation that has been enacted.
For Liberty,
Kendall Cotton
. . .
The Latest
Tax Cuts
- MTN News broke down the anticipated impact of the sweeping tax reforms passed by the legislature this spring. Notably, the Revenue Department estimates between “55,000 and 93,000 lower-income Montanans will not have to file a tax return or pay any income taxes after the changes take effect.”
Our Take:
The common narrative we hear from the tax and spend crowd is that tax cuts benefit the wealthy. But this massive benefit for low-income Montanans is a big deal that is not talked about enough. Tens of thousands of low-income Montanans will not have to file income taxes at all thanks to tax reform.
Unemployment
- With the end of pandemic unemployment programs this week, the total number of people getting some form of unemployment benefit is expected to drop from about 17,000 to 7,400.
Our Take:
This is good news for the businesses across the state desperately trying to hire people. Montana has been at the forefront of states ending additional unemployment benefits to help incentivize people to get back to work. Recent data shows states like Montana that chose to opt-out of extra unemployment have already seen a 12.7% decline in UI claims, indicating a significant amount of people are returning to work.
Independence Day Weekend
- As we go into the holiday weekend, take a moment to read this excellent essay from Frontier Institute Board Member, Larry Reed:
“Yes, America’s Birthday Deserves to Be Celebrated: America is defined, not by slavery, but by the ideals that ultimately abolished it.”