Quantifying the Damage of Biden’s Plan for Higher Taxes on Capital Gains, Part I

by Dan Mitchell | Aug 30, 2021 | Blogs, Capital Gains, Economics, Taxation

Public finance theory teaches us that the capital gains tax should not exist. Such a levy exacerbates the bias against saving and investment, which reduces innovation, hinders economic growth, and lowers worker compensation. All...

A Big (and Deserved?) Tax Increase for Washington, D.C.

by Dan Mitchell | Aug 29, 2021 | Blogs, States, Taxation

I wrote last month about an encouraging wave of tax cuts at the state level. I’m particularly impressed by the tax-cutting plan in Arizona, which cleverly reversed a class-warfare scheme designed to enrich teacher unions. Indeed, I’m a big fan of...

Illinois and the Consequences of Bad Tax Policy

by Dan Mitchell | Aug 27, 2021 | Blogs, Taxation

At the risk of understatement, Illinois is not a well-governed state. Greedy (and hypocritical) politicians have taxed and spent the state into a fiscal hole. It ranks in the top 10 for unemployment.It ranks in the bottom 10 for...

The (Accelerated) Europeanization of America

by Dan Mitchell | Aug 26, 2021 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics

I periodically warn that the United States is on a path to become a European-style welfare state. That sounds good to some people since it implies lots of goodies paid for by other people. So I always explain that there’s a downside. The economic...

Honest Leftists: “Your Money Is Our Money”

by Dan Mitchell | Aug 25, 2021 | Blogs, Taxation

What motivates the tax-and-spend crowd? Why do they want high tax rates and a big welfare state? The most charitable answer is that they don’t want anyone to suffer from poverty and they mistakenly think big government can solve...