It can sometimes be difficult to tell here in the public-policy business whether what you do truly makes a difference in people?s lives. Sure, you hear from readers, listeners, and viewers about what they like or don?t like about your work. Your events may draw crowds, your papers may be cited by public officials, your website may get page views. But what does it add up to in the end?
If you are lucky, the sum is impact: framing the debate over public issues, providing decisionmakers with useful information and intellectual ammunition, and swaying policymakers or the public with cogent argument.
I think that the John Locke Foundation, and in particular our new initiative focusing on the Charlotte region of the state, can fairly claim to have played a constructive role in heading off a proposed city tax increase. We wrote about Charlotte?s city budget, offered suggestions for savings, and made the case at a public hearing that the city?s combined tax burden was already above average compared with peer communities in North Carolina and beyond. Our efforts got significant press attention and draw comments (not all favorable, of course) from members of the city council.
The result was that within a couple of weeks, the council began fashioning a no-tax-increase budget. It passed yesterday. Congratulations to all involved ? including the taxpayers of Charlotte.
