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Unleash Prosperity Hotline
Issue #1349
9/15/2025
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1) Could Sky-High Property Taxes Spark Another Proposition 13 Tax Revolt?

Maybe.

Nationwide, property tax collections went up nearly 7% last year, easily outstripping inflation. Not only are soaring property values squeezing many people out of the housing market but the accompanying tax increases are slamming many families and retirees.
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One of these "key conservatives" is our co-founder Arthur Laffer - who played a big part in the famous 1970s Proposition 13 tax revolt in California that laid the groundwork for the Reagan revolution. Laffer is working in half a dozen states to cap property taxes.

Last year, voters in nine states approved referendums to cap or curb rising assessments, from tying bills to inflation in Georgia and New Mexico to expanding tax exemptions in Colorado. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is exploring ([link removed]) a ballot measure to curb property taxes. It would be accompanied by state audits into how spendthrift local governments overcharge for roads, school construction and parks. Other measures may appear next year on the ballot in Michigan and Ohio.

Anger over property taxes is especially strong in Blue States ([link removed]) , almost all of whom deny citizens the right to put tax limits on the ballot.

Here is a list of the states with the highest property tax rates from Rocket Mortgage:
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Laffer points out that it was Prop 13 property tax caps that allowed California to boom in the 1980s, '90s, and early 2000s. More states need to make sure that their citizens aren't taxed out of their homes.
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2) Better Call Saul! The Ambulance Chasers Are Everywhere

The late Bill Niskanen, the former Reagan economist and Cato Institute chairman, once did a famous analysis finding that every time a kid graduates from law school he or she will on average cost the economy about $50,000 in a deadweight loss. And that was thirty years ago.

We thought about that when we saw this story about billboards in Philadelphia. It's not just Philly. Drive through Texas or Florida or Atlanta and just about any other city and state, every other billboard you will see is a rent-seeking trial lawyer ad.
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3) "Trade Not Aid" Is Still the Best Passport to Prosperity

A new study by the Growth Commission ([link removed]) finds that almost every nation would be richer if they would remove their tariff and non-tariff barriers to international commerce. No country is an island.

The study's finds statistical evidence that the gains from moving toward freer trade and tapping the power of comparative advantage are enormous. Per capita income could rise by as much as 20% over time by eliminating tariffs, customs, subsidies and by protecting private property/patent rights.

The good news is that poor countries in particular could gain much higher living standards quickly by adopting freer trade.

The bad news is that over the last decade or so, trade distortions have increased in most countries.

If the Trump Tariff Doctrine can lock in lower trade barriers abroad, everyone gets richer.

The chart below shows the percentage point increase in growth by reducing trade and regulatory distortions:
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4) Warning: Politicians May Slam the Brakes on Autonomous Trucks and Cars

As we mentioned last week, automated/driverless vehicles are here and on the road in places like California. The productivity improvements and dramatic reductions in transportation costs will be sensational and will eventually fall to close to zero.

Humans won’t having to suffer the drudgery of driving trucks across the country - computers will do that. This is very similar to the impact of the farm tractor 100 years ago. As the technology improves over the next decade or so, the number of trucking accidents will fall to close to zero - so traffic will move much more seamlessly.

Predictably, the Teamsters union isn't happy. They have persuaded Senator Josh Hawley to introduce a bill requiring that autonomous vehicles always have a human operator in them. Hawley claims his major concern is safety (sic).

The truth is, he wants to protect the jobs of truck drivers: "only humans ought to drive cars and trucks." Yes, in 10 years there won't be too many trucking jobs left and that means hundreds of thousands of truck drivers will have to find new jobs. But stopping this technology is as futile and foolish as saving the jobs of people who made ice boxes.

We're reminded that a century ago horse traders weren't too excited about Henry Ford's Model T:
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Kudos to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who has announced that federal regulations will "be updated to fit the realities of the 21st century" and allow the growth of an autonomous vehicle industry. One obstacle is a federal regulation requiring that warning devices, like flares or safety cones, be placed around disabled vehicles.

More than 40,000 people die in auto accidents every year, including almost 1,000 people in Hawley's home state of Missouri. Human error is a factor in between 90% and 99% of auto accidents.
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Remember: Autonomous vehicles don't get drunk, drowsy or distracted and don't need bathroom breaks.
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5) The Despicable Southern Poverty Law Center

If you are wondering why there was so much rage directed at Charlie Kirk and his Turning Point USA, look no further than the odious Southern Policy Law Center (SPLC). Just a few months ago, SPLC published a profile of Kirk as a race-baiting conservative "Christian nationalist" and labeled Turning Point as a "hate group." Kirk is portrayed as being "antisemitic," a "white supremacist," and a basher of the LGBTQ agenda.

Only hours after Kirk was murdered, the SPLC issued an obligatory mamby-pamby statement that they "condemn violence," but then attacked him as a conservative leader who "profits by spreading hate and division" and "thrives when our communities are fractured."

This is a classic case of projection. SPLC resorts to the very inflammatory and hate-filled rhetoric that helps incite the very "violence" they condemn.

This "charitable" organization now has a war chest of more than $700 million!

Shame, shame on the "progressive" foundations around the country that fund this "hate group."
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