by Dan Mitchell | Jan 18, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Welfare and Entitlements
Let’s dig into the issue of whether the United States should become more like France. In a 2014 study for the National Bureau of Economic Research, Stanford University’s Robert Hall wrote about America’s sub-par economic performance. His opening line was basically a...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 17, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs, Taxation, VAT, Welfare and Entitlements
My views on the value-added tax are very simple and straightforward. If we completely eliminated all income-based taxes, I would be willing to accept a VAT (or even a national sales tax) as a revenue source for government. But unless that happens, I’m unalterably...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 16, 2016 | Blogs, Economics, Tax Competition, Taxation
In recent years, I’ve argued that America’s corporate tax system must be very bad if companies are not only redomiciling in places like Cayman and Bermuda, but also inverting to countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom. Well, the same thing happens at the state...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 15, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs, Taxation, VAT
It’s not my role to pick sides in political fights, but I am very interested in trying to make bad ideas radioactive so that politicians won’t be tempted to do the wrong thing. This is why I’m a big fan of the no-tax-hike pledge. The folks in Washington salivate at...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 14, 2016 | Blogs, Economics
Every so often my job requires an unpleasant task, and watching the State-of-the-Union Address as part of Cato’s live-tweeting program counts as one my least enjoyable experiences since joining the team. But let’s make lemonade out of lemons by looking at lessons that...
