Government mandates benefit the politically connected, not consumers.
Brian Garst
Brian Garst is Vice President of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity.
He writes regularly on tax and free-market issues, and has been published by national and international outlets such as Offshore Investment, RealClearPolicy, Cayman Financial Review, China Offshore, Thomson Reuters Accelus, IFC Review, The Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, Human Events, and Townhall.
Do You Trust the IRS With All Your Financial Information?
This year has seen numerous scandals followed by public concern over the extent to which government agencies are violating their privacy rights. Much of the focus has been on the NSA and national security, but the bigger threat to domestic rights may ultimately come…
End the Federal Subsidy for Big State Governments
The relationship between federal and state governments – the division of power between the two levels being known as federalism – is an integral part of the American constitutional system. Federalism uses separate and competing spheres of sovereignty to…
CF&P Joins Coalition Supporting Amash Amendment to Defund Privacy-Violating Surveillance
[Download Coalition Letter] Dear Member of the U.S. House of Representatives: We write to urge you to vote yes on the bipartisan Amash-Conyers amendment to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2014 (H.R. 2397). Rep. Amash’s proposed amendment would defund…
DC Council to the Poor: Screw You!
The unemployment rate in Washington DC is 8.5%, a point higher than the national average. Compared to the rest of the nation, the District is poverty and crime-ridden. Given these facts, you’d think the DC Council would welcome the nation’s largest employer to the…
MarketPlace Fairness Act Thwarts Tax Competition
The Marketplace Fairness Act, a misguided attempt to allow expanded sales tax collection online, passed the Senate on Monday, though its fate in the House is less clear. Also less clear is whether the law passes constitutional muster. At the very least it severely…
No, There Are No FATCA Treaties in the Senate
Yesterday, an article in The Wall Street Journal by Ben DiPietro reported that Senator Rand Paul is holding up “FATCA treaties” in the Senate. If only it were so, but this is simply untrue. There are no such FATCA treaties. The treaties in question are…
Cyprus Bank Crisis: The 2 Biggest Lessons For the U.S.
This article appeared in PolicyMic.
OECD Moves to Undo Taxpayer Gains
Thanks to tax competition and beginning with the cuts under Reagan and Thatcher, global tax rates have declined over the last several decades. In order to remain economically competitive, politicians have had to refrain from the excessive fleecing of taxpayers and…
The OECD’s New Assault on Tax Competition Will Enable Higher Taxes and Bigger Government
Hardly anyone stands up for taxpayers. It’s the classic problem of concentrated interests and defused costs. Those who benefit from profligate government spending are strongly motivated to lobby for their pet handout. But every individual bit of waste only adds…