by Dan Mitchell | Feb 18, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics
According to a “Happy Planet” index put together by some leftists a few years ago, Venezuela is supposed to be one of the world’s best nations. But I strongly suspect that the vast majority of these people would be horrified if they actually had to live there. That’s...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 17, 2016 | Blogs, Economics, Flat Tax, Taxation
I’m in Hong Kong for series of meeting and briefings on various economic and policy issues. As you can imagine, I’m a huge fan of the jurisdiction’s simple 15 percent flat tax. It’s basically about as close to a pure flat tax as anyplace in the world. There is...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 16, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs, States, Welfare and Entitlements
For a wide range of reasons, the federal government should get out of the redistribution racket. Welfare programs are costly, but they’re also not among the enumerated powers granted to the federal government by the Constitution. But for those who don’t care whether...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 15, 2016 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation, VAT
This is a very strange political season. Some of the Senators running for the Republican presidential nomination are among the most principled advocates of smaller government in Washington. Yet all of them have proposed tax plans that, while theoretically far better...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 14, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs
Here’s an image a reader shared with me and it’s the perfect way to explain why the Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, and the rest of the class warriors are wrong. The problem isn’t rich people. It’s looters and moochers, regardless of their income. What makes this...
