vice president of state affairs at Americans for Tax Reform, @BeaconTN senior fellow.

NC
Joined July 2008
Hit a hole-in-one. Free mattresses if the team wins. You went to an insurance company that specialized in calculating the odds. That was probably until 2006. Then it moved to Las Vegas, where ticket brokers holding inventory for one team would bet against that team to hedge. Then, by 2018, it moved to online sportsbooks. Now it's happening on prediction markets. An LA-based restaurant group put $60,000 on Kalshi before the NLCS that the Dodgers would lose to the Brewers. Why? They calculated that a Dodgers World Series run would bring in an extra $120,000. No run, $0. So they hedged. Guaranteed $60,000 either way. The Dodgers lost. The $60,000 grossed $120,000. Why an exchange and not a sportsbook? At a sportsbook, your price is locked. The only way out is a cash-out, and that number is set by the book's algorithm. On an exchange, there's thousands of competing buyers on the other side. The price moves. It's a reflection of the market, and you can take it or leave it at any point. The speculators who believed the Dodgers would win provided the liquidity the sportsbook never did. Marketplaces like Kalshi are giving businesses the exchange that prize indemnity and sportsbooks never could. Because the other side is real.
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Patrick Gleason retweeted
MedStar Georgetown University Hospital booked nearly $1.4 billion in profits over the past decade…tax-free. Yet it gets nearly $24 million in DC tax breaks while giving only $12.7 million in charity care. When a hospital is this large and successful, it is fair to ask, what is it doing to deserve its tax-exempt status? scottahodge.substack.com/p/i…
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After passing the largest tax increase in state history in 2025, the legislature and the governor actually CUT aid to children, youth and families and Medicaid. Where were these supposedly concerned people then? #waleg
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Patrick Gleason retweeted
An LA hospitality group runs 25 bars, many of them right by Dodger Stadium. Every extra playoff game means packed bars. An early exit means lost revenue they were counting on. So they hedged it. They put $60,000 on Kalshi on the Dodgers *not* making the World Series. The Dodgers lost the NLCS to the Brewers. The position returned nearly 2x, helping cover the playoff business that *never* came. A Columbia law professor told Fortune it works like “a form of bespoke insurance.” Read the full story here: fortune.com/2026/10/19/predi…
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Randi Weingarten's union just spent $200,000 to support a new income tax in Washington state. These greedy socialists think they're entitled to all of your money.
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Patrick Gleason retweeted
DC Local Government Spending Has Far Outpaced Inflation and Population …h/t @mattyglesias
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Patrick Gleason retweeted
Check out this chart of population movement in the U.S. between mid-2024 and mid-2025:
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Patrick Gleason retweeted
liz warren: we’re gonna stop the mayonnaise company from buying a hot sauce company elon musk:
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This was actual history for natural gas rich parts of southern NY, where state officials imposed a fracking ban that has deprived New Yorkers of the economic benefits enjoyed by neighboring counties across the state line in PA
Someone should do an alt history of modern America where there's no shale boom
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Patrick Gleason retweeted
The United States has 1 (arguable) trillionaire and 24,000,000 millionaires.
James Talarico: I want an economy that creates fewer trillionaires and more millionaires. Right now, our tax system literally taxes work more than it taxes wealth. That's backwards.
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Patrick Gleason retweeted
Imagine if you will a world where a panopticon conglomerate owns two brands of hot sauce
Hellmann's mayo McCormick spices Cholula hot sauce Frank's RedHot What do these products have in common? One company could soon control them all. I have concerns that McCormick and Unilever's $45 billion merger could increase YOUR grocery prices.
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Patrick Gleason retweeted
This is connected to voters' support of repealing the state personal income tax over time. People understand that government takes too much from their paychecks. When people talk about affordability, it isn't just groceries or energy or gasoline. It's also the high cost of government.
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Patrick Gleason retweeted
BREAKING: Both NC House Democratic candidates in Guilford County, Elma Hairston and Shelly Headen, said they would NOT support capping the state income tax rate or voting on a constitutional amendment to limit rampant property tax increases. #ncpol
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Patrick Gleason retweeted
Prop 43 // Two-Thirds Vote Requirement for Local Special Tax Initiatives and Property Tax Initiative Prohibition Amendment Yes. Prop 43 raises the bar for special taxes from a simple majority to a two-thirds vote. We love this. Thank you, next.
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Patrick Gleason retweeted
The Legislature and Governor Gavin Newsom approved $14.3 billion in annual tax and fee increases during the 2025-26 legislative session after lawmakers considered more than $803 billion in tax and fee hikes, the California Tax Foundation reported today. caltax.org/foundation/report…
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It doesn’t matter if the firm is D or R affiliated, local govts should not be spending taxpayer $ on contract lobbyists (who often lobby against pro-taxpayer reforms). That’s why I love the bill passed by the TX Senate multiple times that would ban taxpayer-funded lobbying.
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By phasing out their income tax, adopting a state-level REINS Act, as well as universal school choice, many states are seeking to emulate TN. But no state is perfect and @BrianBalfourNC highlights one area where lawmakers in NC and elsewhere should not follow TN's lead carolinajournal.com/opinion/…
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