Well folks, the verdict is in, and we now know where Idaho stands in both personal and economic freedoms within the 50 states and to many this will be a surprise. Idaho was ranked 14 in overall personal and economic freedoms and that is down one notch from last year’s rating.
We have broken out Idaho’s rankings from the Cato Institute Site and below you will find a link to go directly to this survey:
https://www.freedominthe50states.org/economic
Cato’s rankings for Idaho:
#7 Economic Freedom – includes fiscal and regulatory policy across a variety of categories including state and local taxation, land-use, and health insurance.
#49 Personal Freedom – Personal freedom includes a variety of categories including victimless crimes, guns, tobacco, and education.
#46 Incarceration and Arrests – The incarceration and arrests category includes incarceration rates, non-drug crime arrests, and drug enforcement.
#44 Gambling Freedom – The gambling category includes an estimated cost of gambling restrictions and whether social or online gaming is allowed.
#3 Gun Rights – The gun rights category measures the direct costs of gun laws to gun owners and dealers.
#7 Tobacco Freedom – The tobacco category includes taxes on tobacco, smoking bans, Internet bans, and vending machine regulations.
#28 Marriage Freedom – The marriage category includes the ability for couples to enter into private contracts, both civil unions or marriage.
#30 Educational Freedom – The education category takes into account requirements and restrictions for private and homeschools.
#39 Cannabis & Salvia Freedom – This category includes an index of medical marijuana policies and other policy variables.
#49 Alcohol Freedom – The alcohol category includes restrictions on distribution, taxes, blue laws, keg registrations, and “happy hour” bans.
#25 Asset Forfeiture – Civil asset forfeiture is the government’s ability to take a person’s property by accusing him or her of a crime.
#24 Travel Freedom – This category includes seat belt laws, helmet laws, mandatory insurance coverage, and cell phone usage laws.
#18 Campaign and Finance Freedom – This category covers public financing of campaigns and contribution limits.
We encourage you to visit the Cato website above to get all the details on this survey.
