Fiscal Alliance Foundation

08/25/2026

Vermont is set to spend $2.5 BILLION on public education this year.

But according to the teachers’ union, the problem is that Vermont is “not spending too much money.” 🤔

Gov. Phil Scott lays out the reality.

Education spending has grown from roughly $1.6 billion when he took office to $2.5 billion today. And property taxes are only part of the story.

Vermonters also fund the Education Fund through the sales tax, lottery proceeds, meals and rooms taxes, purchase and use taxes, and more.

That adds up to roughly $800 MILLION beyond property taxes going toward education.

Vermont’s education affordability crisis cannot be solved by pretending the state simply needs to spend more money.

At some point, taxpayers deserve to ask what they are getting for what they already spend.

08/25/2026

Vermont is set to spend $2.5 BILLION on public education this year.

But according to the teachers’ union, the problem is that Vermont is “not spending too much money.” 🤔

Gov. Phil Scott lays out the reality.

Education spending has grown from roughly $1.6 billion when he took office to $2.5 billion today. And property taxes are only part of the story.

Vermonters also fund the Education Fund through the sales tax, lottery proceeds, meals and rooms taxes, purchase and use taxes, and more.

That adds up to roughly $800 MILLION beyond property taxes going toward education.

Vermont’s education affordability crisis cannot be solved by pretending the state simply needs to spend more money.

At some point, taxpayers deserve to ask what they are getting for what they already spend.

08/25/2026

🚨"Vermont has a spending problem, not a revenue problem, and it is time to understand where all the money is going and who will be left to foot the bill."

Read State Director Elizabeth Brown's full op-ed linked in the comments below. ⬇⬇

08/24/2026

During a recent visit to New England, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright laid out the facts regarding "Net Zero" mandates, calling them a "horrifically bad idea!"

Wright says, over $10 Trillion has been spent worldwide to either subsidize or mandate wind, solar, batteries and transmission.

Yet those alternative energy sources account for only 3.0% of total global primary energy. 3.4% in the United States.

Net Zero mandates have been a license to increase energy costs with no meaningful impact, and ratepayers are stuck with the bill.

08/21/2026

⚡ New England has spent decades trying to transform its electric grid. But after all that effort, the percentage of the region’s electricity coming from fossil fuels is essentially the same as when the transition began.

That is one of the striking findings in our new whitepaper from energy policy expert Lisa Linowes, which examines how New England’s push toward net-zero policies is colliding with two realities that cannot be ignored: cost and reliability.

After years of mandates, subsidies, and policies intended to reshape the electric grid, fossil fuels continue to play essentially the same role in keeping New England powered.

So what have ratepayers gotten for all that spending?

As Lisa explains, these policies have added costs, distorted the electricity market, and forced an increasingly complicated system onto the grid without fundamentally changing the role fossil fuels play in producing reliable power.

And policymakers are still pushing for more.

The energy transition cannot just be judged by political targets or how much renewable capacity gets built. We need to ask whether these policies are actually delivering value for the people paying the bills.

08/20/2026

Read our letter to the editor in today’s Boston Globe by Laurie Belsito, our Policy Director and Lisa Linowes, an independent energy policy analyst. ⚡️🔌☢️

🔗 https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/08/20/opinion/letters-battery-storage-energy-demands-mass/

08/19/2026

Did you know Vermont’s Education Fund now relies on far more than the $1.5 billion-plus it receives from property taxes?

In fact, it consumes A LOT more. Vermont's Ed Fund also receives sales tax revenue, vehicle purchase and use tax, meals and rooms tax, state lottery proceeds, “cloud tax” on software services, surcharge on short term rentals, and tens of millions in 'emergency' transfers from the General Fund.

While education spending doubled in 15 years, other essential government services such as transportation, agriculture, economic development and public safety were all slashed as a percentage of the total state budget, some by 40% or more.

Instead of the over 300 miles we need to pave annually, Vermont is now only paving 50 miles per year.

Who is on the hook when residents can’t pay their property tax bills? Your towns.

This has to end.

08/17/2026

Vermont’s affordability crisis isn’t going to be solved by asking taxpayers for even more money.

After years of state spending growing at twice the rate of inflation, many candidates and lawmakers are still pushing the same answer: new taxes, new revenue, and more government spending. 💸

At some point, Vermont has to start asking a different question:

Where is all the money already going?

Vermonters need policies that lower costs, encourage economic growth, and recognize that there is a limit to what families and businesses can afford.

Submitted by katie on Fri, 08/14/2026 - 10:54 Primary winners look to new taxes and revenue as Vermont's affordability crisis continues VermontBiz Following Tuesday's primary, the Fiscal Alliance Foundation said Vermonters should take a hard look at a common theme among many of the state's Democrat...

08/13/2026

📍 Massachusetts businesses don’t operate in a vacuum.

Just a few miles north, New Hampshire is actively competing for the same employers, workers, entrepreneurs, and investment.

That makes this contrast pretty remarkable.

Governor Maura Healey warns that lowering taxes would hurt business interests and be “catastrophic” for Massachusetts.

New Hampshire State Rep. Joe Sweeney describes a very different experience.

New Hampshire cut business taxes, worked to make itself more attractive to employers, and saw businesses invest and revenues grow. Sweeney also points directly to companies leaving Massachusetts and heading north because New Hampshire has made being a tax-friendly state part of its economic strategy.

Meanwhile, Beacon Hill continues to act as though Massachusetts can impose higher taxes without consequences.

It can’t.

Businesses can move. Investment can move. Workers can move. And when neighboring states are deliberately making themselves more competitive, Massachusetts should be asking how to keep people here, not how much more government can take from them.

The competition is real. Massachusetts policymakers should start acting like it.