Advocates of big government think it is appropriate for the state to redistribute wealth out of a sense of fairness. They usually claim to want some form of taking from the wealthy to give to the poor. But the practice of redistribution is actually quite different. …
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.
GM Investors Beware
General Motors, having been bailed out by the government, is preparing for its massive initial public offering, which could be the biggest in U.S. history. Some will no doubt look at the bailout and conclude that GM investments now come with explicit government…
Risk and Sin Taxes
Vincent DeMarco, president of the Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative Education Fund, recently wrote to the Baltimore Sun to stick up for Maryland’s sin taxes. He seems to view it as the obligation of government to reduce activities it determines to be…
Bush was the Biggest Tax Collector in History, But an Even Bigger Spender
Bill Frezza of Adams Capital Management writes at RealClearMarkets to debunk claims that the current deficit is due to a lack of tax revenue, rather than excessive spending. Using IRS data, he shows how revenues from the rich – as well as the effective tax rate…
When Soaking The Rich Doesn't Sell, Soak The Super-Rich Instead
With the public unconvinced of the wisdom of soaking the rich, the latest hot idea floating around in statist circles is not to soak the rich, but rather the really, super-duper, ultra rich. In a class-warfare filled screed, James Surowiecki wrote in the New Yorker on…
Shocking News: Political Class Wants Unlimited Power
While the public is rightly skeptical of granting our government overlords unlimited power – which they are busy gathering for themselves nonetheless – there’s one group of people who think it would be just dandy to grant limitless power to the…
Yet Another Reason Soaking-the-Rich Doesn't Work
Statists view “the rich” as nothing more than ATM machines for funding big-government welfare states. They think they can take as much as they like – they’re rich, after all! – without consequences. Once they empty the machine, the bank…
Wherein I Agree With The Statists: Don't Let BP Win
Iain Murray writes at the Washington Examiner that advocacy groups Change.org and the Alliance for Climate Protection are arguing – in an email entitled, “Don’t Let BP Win!” – that “Stalling climate and energy legislation would be a big win for oil…
"Price Gouging" Laws Compound Natural Disasters with Political Disaster
Florida Senator Bill Nelson is seizing on the BP oil spill as an excuse to pass federal “price gouging” legislation. It’s certainly nothing new to see anti-market politicians stirring up populist rage with these so-called “price gouging”…
Public Knows Better than Congress
The statists in Congress are enamored with Keynesian big government policies and profligate spending as a means of “stimulus.” But while they travel the country to tout so-called “stimulus success,” the public displays a far better…