As state legislators begin to think about comprehensive tax reform for North Carolina, John Locke Foundation Director of Fiscal Policy Studies Fergus Hodgson has offered them a simple idea: Scrap the so-called Amazon tax. The Charlotte Observer published Hodgson’s column this week highlighting details from his latest Spotlight report.

The Greensboro News & Record‘s “Mixing It Up” column cited Piedmont Publius blogger Sam Hieb‘s thoughts about funding for a downtown performing arts center. Salisbury Post editor Elizabeth Cook’s latest column referenced Carolina Journal articles about vetoed legislation and runoff primary elections.

The Pender Chronicle published Carolina Journal Radio Co-Host Donna Martinez‘s latest column on efforts to tear down productive, successful members of society. The Lumberton Robesonian cited CJ Associate Editor Dan Way‘s reporting on legal action surrounding Lumberton’s efforts to tax Internet sweepstakes parlors. (“If the tax survives the challenge, it will really give government a new tool to regulate businesses that they don’t like,” [attorney Adam] Charnes told the Carolina Journal.)

N.C. Senate Republicans promoted Way’s article about efforts to contain growing costs in North Carolina’s Medicaid program, along with John Hood’s columns on streamlining top executive jobs in North Carolina government and interpreting properly the N.C. Court of Appeals’ recent ruling on state-funded prekindergarten programs. The Senate GOP highlighted Terry Stoops’ column about the public school graduation rate debate and CJ contributor Kristy Bailey‘s article about claims linked to class-size reduction.