Recent posts clearly place me in the camp of “critic” for the sales tax data from Grand Forks. Criticism can be important because it encourages us to make things better, to improve upon the inadequate. With that in mind I offer up some alternatives that might be better than the current system. If we need to remove some of the “ups-and-downs” of the data, for whatever reason, let’s try to keep the some of the features of the data that keep us in the realm of informing policy. This first graph is for a long period of time and may be a bit difficult to see.
Continue reading Smooth Alternatives: Grand Forks Sales Taxes