by Dan Mitchell | Feb 8, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs, Europe, Welfare and Entitlements
Taxpayers don’t like coughing up big amounts of money so other people can choose not to work. And they really get upset when welfare payments are so generous that newcomers are encouraged to climb in the wagon of government dependency. This has an effect on the...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 7, 2016 | Blogs, Taxation
When I give speeches in favor of tax reform, I argue for policies such as the flat tax on the basis of both ethics and economics. The ethical argument is about the desire for a fair system that neither punishes people for being productive nor rewards them for being...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 6, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending
Whenever there’s a fight over raising the debt limit, the political establishment gets hysterical and makes apocalyptic claims about default and economic crisis. For years, I’ve been arguing that this Chicken-Little rhetoric is absurd. And earlier this week I...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 5, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation, VAT
The left is very clever about accepting “compromise,” so long as the result is a larger burden of government. This is one of the reasons why I’m so concerned about Senator Cruz’s proposal for a value-added tax. Even though he wants a VAT for good reasons (to finance...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 4, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs
Once again, I threw myself on a proverbial grenade. Yes, that means I watched politicians last night as part of the Cato Institute’s live-tweeting about issues that were raised (or not raised) in the CNN Townhall featuring Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Although...
