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Five Lessons for America from the European Fiscal Crisis

Five Lessons for America from the European Fiscal Crisis

I’ve written about the fiscal implosion in Europe and warned that America faces the same fate if we don’t reform poorly designed entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. But… Read more »

Alan Blinder’s Accidental Case for the Flat Tax

Alan Blinder’s Accidental Case for the Flat Tax

Alan Blinder has a distinguished resume. He’s a professor at Princeton and he served as Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve. So I was interested to see he authored an… Read more »

A Painful Example of Obamacare’s Tax Complexity

A Painful Example of Obamacare’s Tax Complexity

As this image illustrates, the internal revenue code is a nightmare of complexity. And this chart shows how Obamacare is turning the health care system into a Byzantine nightmare. So… Read more »

The Tobin Tax on Financial Transactions Would Be Bad for Investment, Bad for Competitiveness

The Tobin Tax on Financial Transactions Would Be Bad for Investment, Bad for Competitiveness

I’m periodically asked about proposals to impose “small” taxes on transactions. There are a couple of versions of this idea. In some cases, such proposals are designed to tax every… Read more »

Per Dollar Spent, OECD Subsidies May Be the Most Destructively Wasteful Part of the Federal Budget

Per Dollar Spent, OECD Subsidies May Be the Most Destructively Wasteful Part of the Federal Budget

I’m not a fan of international bureaucracies. I’ve criticized the United Nations for wanting global taxes. I’ve condemned the International Monetary Fund for promoting bigger government. I’ve even excoriated the… Read more »

Will the Stupid Party Agree to Higher Taxes and More Wasteful Spending?

Will the Stupid Party Agree to Higher Taxes and More Wasteful Spending?

I’m baffled by stupid Republicans (sorry to be redundant). Some GOPers have agreed to put taxes on the table. Not surprisingly, Democrats are praising them for this preemptive surrender, patting… Read more »

The Real Problem With the “Christmas Tree Tax”

The Real Problem With the “Christmas Tree Tax”

Yesterday evening, Heritage spotted a conspicuous entry in the day’s publication of the Federal Register, defining a new tax on Christmas trees, which would fund a Christmas Tree Promotion Board…. Read more »

A Supercommittee Tax-Hike Surrender Means Republicans Would Snatch Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

A Supercommittee Tax-Hike Surrender Means Republicans Would Snatch Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

Commenting on Supercommittee deliberations last month, I asked whether Republicans will choose the real budgetary savings of a sequester or surrender to a tax hike. Well, it appears that the… Read more »

A Lesson on the Laffer Curve for Barack Obama

A Lesson on the Laffer Curve for Barack Obama

One of my frustrating missions in life is to educate policy makers on the Laffer Curve. This means teaching folks on the left that tax policy affects incentives to earn… Read more »