This is What You Get for Your Idaho taxes

Are you getting all you can out of the taxes you pay?  It’s called “Return on Investment” or ROI.  A research team sat down and looked at all 50 states.  With a goal of ranking the best for ROI.  I expected to see Idaho in the top half.  The state is 16^th nationwide.  Could it be better?  As a taxpayer, I certainly say yes.  Please, however, keep in mind the people doing the research looked at a variety of criteria.  I don’t have kids in school.  Therefore, I’m not terribly concerned about academic performance.  Not to say I don’t support schools but not every graduate is going to be building rockets.

Some will go on and fix roads.  I like driving on smooth pavement.  In my view, we graduate a lot of kids with good life skills, many of which were already learned at home.

Some of the bluest states have the worst performance when it comes to a return.  Hawaii is a Democrat Party rock.  The place is dead last when it comes to ROI.  California is 49^th, which doesn’t surprise me.  Geographically a leviathan and with a huge population and government bureaucracy to match, it’s going to be sluggish.  Most of the states near the bottom are run by Democrats.  North Dakota is an outlier but much of its recent tax revenue has been based on oil and gas revenues.  The market fluctuates and impacts state services.

New Hampshire and Vermont are next door neighbors.  The two states are indistinguishable when it comes to population demographics.  White and well educated.  The one not under single party control is in first place on the list.  The other, a liberal bastion, is 41^st.  You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to answer why.