by Dan Mitchell | Jan 20, 2017 | Blogs, Capital Gains, Economics, Taxation
Time for a boring and wonky discussion about taxes, capital formation, and growth. We’ll start with the uncontroversial proposition that saving and investment is a key driver of long-run growth. Simply stated, employees can produce more (and therefore earn more) when...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 19, 2017 | Blogs, Tax Competition, Taxation
While my colleagues are stuck in the cold of Washington for inauguration week, I’m enjoying a few days in the Caribbean. More specifically, I’m sharing my views today on Trump and the global economy at the annual Business Outlook Conference in the British Virgin...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 18, 2017 | Blogs, Tax Competition, Taxation, VAT
In the world of tax policy, there’s an intense debate about the “border-adjustable” provision that is part of the tax plan put forth by House Republicans, which basically would tax imports and exempt revenues generated by exports. It’s a bit wonky, but the simplest...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 17, 2017 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Tax Competition, Taxation
Mancur Olson (1932-1998) was a great economist who came up with a very useful analogy to help explain the behavior of many governments. He pointed out that a “roving bandit” has an incentive to maximize short-run plunder by stealing everything from victims (i.e. a 100...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 16, 2017 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
When politicians create programs and announce projects, they routinely lie about the real costs. Their primary goal is to get initial approval for various boondoggles and they figure it will be too late to reverse path once it becomes apparent that something will cost...
