Besides West Virginia and Maryland, Louisiana is the least free state in the South, according to a report released Thursday on personal and economic freedom.
“Freedom in the 50 States,” a report published by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, accounted for a wide range of policies that affect economic and personal freedom, from income taxation to gun control to home-schooling regulations.
The authors, William Ruger, of Texas, and Jason Sorens, of New York, are both political science professors affiliated with the university center in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.
“The idea is really that policymakers will take a look at the data we’ve compiled, take a look at the individual policies, and the fact that citizens are leaving states that are less free for states that are more free, and figure out ways to improve their state,” Sorens said during a National Press Club panel Thursday, where the report was discussed.
Louisiana’s sales taxes are the highest is the country, as calculated as a percentage of the corrected Gross State Product, the report states.
The report criticizes Louisiana on its punishments for drug offenses and health insurance mandates.
“Asset forfeiture needs reform,” the report stated. “The liability system is among the very worst in the country. Arrest rates for victimless crimes are extremely high.”
The report says the focus is on threats to individual liberty originating in the state.
But it does not take into account the effectiveness of states in punishing rights violations.
The report also avoids some high-profile issues, such as abortion, by noting state restrictions but not including the policies in the index.
Louisiana ranked:
* 28th in fiscal policy. This accounts for spending and taxation issues, including local government budget constraints and debt burdens.
* 25th in regulatory policy. This includes labor regulation, health insurance mandates, occupational licensing, eminent domain, land and environmental regulations and utilities.
* 40th in personal freedom. This measures gambling laws; alcohol and tobacco regulations; auto and road regulations, such as helmet laws and cell-phone driving bans; campaign finance; gun control; and education.
* 34th in the overall freedom ranking of all three policy sections. The best state overall was New Hampshire, while New York was the worst.
Sorens said both economic and personal freedom are factors in where people decide to live. The out-migration in “less free” states from 2000 to 2007 was 4 to 5 percentage points greater than other states, he said.
“It is freedom itself that creates prosperity,” said U.S. Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., who was part of the panel discussion Thursday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
In a simple exchange of money for a service, such as buying a cup of coffee, the buyer and seller are richer and happier and more prosperous for the lack of regulations, he said.
“Suppose some third party butts his nose into that transaction and says, ‘Oh no, the coffee’s got to be served between 95 and 110 degrees, and it’s got to be served with a swizzle stick and in a biodegradable container and be covered and consumed no more than 25 feet from the point of sale’ — every one of those restrictions reduces the value of that transaction for one or the both of us until the value is destroyed and the transaction no longer takes place,” McClintock said. “That’s the real economic harm of authoritarianism.”)
“Freedom in the 50 States,” a report published by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, accounted for a wide range of policies that affect economic and personal freedom, from income taxation to gun control to home-schooling regulations.
The authors, William Ruger, of Texas, and Jason Sorens, of New York, are both political science professors affiliated with the university center in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.
“The idea is really that policymakers will take a look at the data we’ve compiled, take a look at the individual policies, and the fact that citizens are leaving states that are less free for states that are more free, and figure out ways to improve their state,” Sorens said during a National Press Club panel Thursday, where the report was discussed.
Louisiana’s sales taxes are the highest is the country, as calculated as a percentage of the corrected Gross State Product, the report states.
The report criticizes Louisiana on its punishments for drug offenses and health insurance mandates.
“Asset forfeiture needs reform,” the report stated. “The liability system is among the very worst in the country. Arrest rates for victimless crimes are extremely high.”
The report says the focus is on threats to individual liberty originating in the state.
But it does not take into account the effectiveness of states in punishing rights violations.
The report also avoids some high-profile issues, such as abortion, by noting state restrictions but not including the policies in the index.
Louisiana ranked:
* 28th in fiscal policy. This accounts for spending and taxation issues, including local government budget constraints and debt burdens.
* 25th in regulatory policy. This includes labor regulation, health insurance mandates, occupational licensing, eminent domain, land and environmental regulations and utilities.
* 40th in personal freedom. This measures gambling laws; alcohol and tobacco regulations; auto and road regulations, such as helmet laws and cell-phone driving bans; campaign finance; gun control; and education.
* 34th in the overall freedom ranking of all three policy sections. The best state overall was New Hampshire, while New York was the worst.
Sorens said both economic and personal freedom are factors in where people decide to live. The out-migration in “less free” states from 2000 to 2007 was 4 to 5 percentage points greater than other states, he said.
“It is freedom itself that creates prosperity,” said U.S. Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., who was part of the panel discussion Thursday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
In a simple exchange of money for a service, such as buying a cup of coffee, the buyer and seller are richer and happier and more prosperous for the lack of regulations, he said.
“Suppose some third party butts his nose into that transaction and says, ‘Oh no, the coffee’s got to be served between 95 and 110 degrees, and it’s got to be served with a swizzle stick and in a biodegradable container and be covered and consumed no more than 25 feet from the point of sale’ — every one of those restrictions reduces the value of that transaction for one or the both of us until the value is destroyed and the transaction no longer takes place,” McClintock said. “That’s the real economic harm of authoritarianism.”)
Is Louisiana really a less-free state then some of the others?
That is the question that the good people of this fair state have to ask themselves.
Sure, there are too many taxes and fees and the government seem to want to keep adding to the problem with fees. We simply are one of the most overtaxed states in the nation. It does not help that the government has seen fit to play with the definition of words. The state spends too much of the things that we don’t need.
Imminent Domain is not only problem here in Louisiana but it is a \problem in the rest of the country. That is a wash.
There are definitely way too much regulation in the state and that needs to change.
All in all, I agree that this is one of the less free states in the country.
That is the question that the good people of this fair state have to ask themselves.
Sure, there are too many taxes and fees and the government seem to want to keep adding to the problem with fees. We simply are one of the most overtaxed states in the nation. It does not help that the government has seen fit to play with the definition of words. The state spends too much of the things that we don’t need.
Imminent Domain is not only problem here in Louisiana but it is a \problem in the rest of the country. That is a wash.
There are definitely way too much regulation in the state and that needs to change.
All in all, I agree that this is one of the less free states in the country.
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