Author Archives:
Lucky French Taxpayers Get an Obama-Style Flat Tax
I joked back in 2010 that Barack Obama had a very simple flat tax proposal. But as you can see, sometimes simple isn’t the same as good. Well, satire too… Read more
Quit Dodging the Issue and Tell Us the Revenue-Maximizing Point on the Laffer Curve
I feel like I’m on the witness stand and I’m being badgered by a hostile lawyers. Readers keep asking me to identify the revenue-maximizing point on the Laffer Curve. But… Read more
UFOs, Faked Moon Landings, and Fiscal Policy
I was very pleased to report the other day that the people of France overwhelmingly favor spending cuts, even when they were asked a biased question that presupposed that Keynesian-style… Read more
OECD Study Admits Income Taxes Penalize Growth, Acknowledges that Tax Competition Restrains Excessive Government
I have to start this post with a big caveat. I’m not a fan of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The international bureaucracy is infamous for using… Read more
Grim News from Greece about Grasping Government
I’m in Europe as part of a six-nation speaking tour, participating in the Free Market Road Show. My first speech was yesterday in Greece, which is infamous for a government… Read more
Hell Has Officialy Frozen Over: French Support Spending Cuts by Overwhelming 4-1 Margin
I like the think I’m a reasonably savvy observer of public opinion and international economics, but every so often I’m stunned by some bit of data. Several years ago, for… Read more
Another Example of Editorial-Page Fiction at the New York Times
Are there any fact checkers at the New York Times? Since they’ve allowed some glaring mistakes by Paul Krugman (see here and here), I guess the answer is no. But… Read more
Tax and Expenditure Limits: The Challenge of Turning Mitchell’s Golden Rule from Theory into Reality
The main goal of fiscal policy should be to shrink the burden of government spending as a share of economic output. Fortunately, it shouldn’t be too difficult to achieve this… Read more
Going Galt: More Americans Vote with their Feet against Obama
I’ve written many times about how investors, entrepreneurs, small business owners and other successful people migrate from high-tax states to low-tax states. Well, the same thing happens internationally, as France’s… Read more
Let’s Fix the Real Obesity Problem in Washington
Whenever someone proposes that we need more intervention from the federal government, I always go to the Constitution and check Article I, Section VIII. This is because I’m old fashioned… Read more
