Tag Archives: Taxation
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
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
Why the So-Called Marketplace Fairness Act Is a Misguided Expansion of Power for State Governments
I’m either a total optimist or a glutton for punishment. I recently explained the benefits of “tax havens” for the unfriendly readers of the New York Times. Now I’m defending… Read more
If the Government Doesn’t Double Tax Your Retirement Savings, Are You Benefitting from an Entitlement?
I’ve cited some remarkable examples of Orwellian language abuse. The World Bank published a study of national tax systems and countries with higher tax burdens were rewarded with a grade… Read more
New European Data: When Tax Competition Is Weakened, Politicians Respond by Increasing Tax Rates
I often argue that we need to preserve tax competition and tax havens in order to limit the greed of the political class. Without some sort of external constraint, they… Read more
Raise Your Glass and Give a Toast to Celebrate the Real-World Benefits of Lower Taxes and Economic Freedom
I share a lot of economic theory and empirical evidence in favor of lower tax rates. And I’m constantly extolling the virtues of overall economic freedom. But sometimes it helps… Read more
Explaining to the Kleptocrats on Capitol Hill that Tax Havens Should Be Emulated, not Persecuted
Since I just left Monaco and am now in Geneva, this is an appropriate time to extol the virtues of so-called tax havens. But I don’t merely say nice… Read more
New European Central Bank Study Finds that Government Spending Undermines Growth
The fiscal policy debate often drives me crazy because far too many people focus on deficits. The Keynesians argue that deficits are good for growth and this leads them to… Read more
The Revised Bowles-Simpson Tax-Hike Plan Might Be even Worse than the Previous Version
I wrote last September that the budget plan put forward by Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson was fatally flawed. There were some positive features in the plan, to be sure,… Read more
It’s Tax Freedom Day, So Congratulations (if You Don’t Live in New York, California, New Jersey, Illinois, etc)
It’s time to celebrate. That’s because we have reached Tax Freedom Day, meaning that – in the aggregate – we have finally earned enough money to pay for all the… Read more
