by Dan Mitchell | Oct 22, 2020 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Taxation
The good news is that the election season is almost over. The bad news is that we’ll have a president next year who does not embrace classical liberal principles of free markets and social tolerance. But that doesn’t mean Trump and Biden are equally bad. Depending on...
by Dan Mitchell | Oct 21, 2020 | Blogs, Economics, States
Back in July, I wrote a three-part series designed to identify the states with the greediest politicians. Part I was based on the top income tax rate in each state. Part II was based on the sales tax rate in each state. Part III was based on the burden of government...
by Dan Mitchell | Oct 20, 2020 | Blogs, Taxation
Since Americans are not as sensible as the Swiss, I’m generally not a fan of direct democracy in the United States. Simply stated, I don’t like untrammeled majoritarianism, which occurs when 51 percent of voters can pillage 49 percent of voters. But I’ll admit that...
by Dan Mitchell | Oct 19, 2020 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
For a land-locked nation without many natural resources, Switzerland is remarkably successful. One reason for the country’s success is pro-market policy. Switzerland routinely scores in the top 5 according to both Economic Freedom of the World and Index of Economic...
by Dan Mitchell | Oct 17, 2020 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, States
One of the problems with state balanced budget requirements is that tax revenues are very sensitive to economic conditions. Boom Years: When there’s robust economic growth, politicians collect unanticipated revenue because more people have good jobs and more...
