by Dan Mitchell | May 13, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Constitution
If I had to pick a government policy that would be most upsetting to our Founding Fathers, I’d be tempted to pick the income tax. Or maybe some useless agency, such as the Department of Housing and Urban Development. After all, surely the Founders didn’t envision – or...
by Dan Mitchell | May 12, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Taxation
In the past week, I’ve written two columns (here and here) extolling the benefits of federalism. So I now feel compelled to warn that my support for decentralization is not motivated by some Pollyannish view of sub-national governments. State and local...
by Dan Mitchell | May 11, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Welfare and Entitlements
America has a giant long-run problem largely caused by poorly designed entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. So when I wrote last month about proposals by some Democrats to expand Social Security, I was less than enthusiastic....
by Dan Mitchell | May 10, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Regulations
Civil disobedience is a powerful and traditional way for Americans to resist bad government policy. The most famous example is the way civil rights leaders used disobedience(and armed self defense) to help end the Jim Crow laws imposed by state governments. It’s also...
by Dan Mitchell | May 9, 2015 | Blogs, Economics, Tax Competition, Taxation
I wrote just yesterday about new evidence showing that decentralized government is more efficient. Part of the reason is because local governments are easier for voters to monitor and more likely to reflect the actual preferences of residents. Another reason is tax...
