In previous posts, I put together tutorials on the Laffer Curve, tax competition, and the economics of government spending. Today, we’re going to look at the issue of tax reform. The focus will be the flat tax, but this analysis applies equally to national sales tax…
Daily Analysis
The Other Problem of Dependence
A lot has been said about the growing dependence of American citizens on the federal government, including in this great CF&P Economics 101 video narrated by Emily O’Neill. But there’s another kind of growing dependence about which we need to be…
More Leftists Let Their Masks Slip, Admit They Want Big Tax Hikes on the Middle Class
While I disagree with statists, I sometimes admire their discipline. They are very good at staying “on message.” I am 100 percent confident, for instance, that they intend big tax hikes on the middle class, even though they would piously swear an oath to the contrary….
Since Leftists Don’t Like Corporate Loopholes, They Should Support the Flat Tax
I appeared on CNBC a couple of days ago to discuss a new report which claims that some big U.S. companies “only” paid 9 percent of their income to the government. While I’m a bit skeptical of the numbers (did it include the taxes paid to foreign governments, for…
The Deadly Impact of President Obama’s Economic Policies: 59,757 Needless Deaths…and Counting
In what will almost surely be the nastiest campaign ad of the political season, a pro-Obama super PAC basically accuses Mitt Romney and Bain Capital of causing a woman’s death. Viewers are supposed to hold Romney responsible because the woman’s husband lost his job,…
A Sequester Doesn’t Mean the Sky Is Falling…Not Even for the Defense Budget
I like sequestration. Automatic budget cuts might not be the best way of reducing the burden of government spending, but a sequester is better than leaving the federal budget on autopilot. Particularly since the “cuts” are mostly just reductions in already-scheduled…
Using the White House’s Own Benchmark, I Give Obamanomics an F on CNBC
I almost feel sorry for the ideologues and partisan hacks who feel obliged to defends Obama’s miserable economic performance. Keynesian spending policies and class-warfare tax policies have produced dismal economic performance, with unemployment stuck above 8 percent…
Another European Triumph for Human Rights
Centuries from now, I’m sure historians won’t bother teaching about the Magna Carta, the Constitution, the end of slavery, or the collapse of communism. Instead, people who want to know about human rights will learn about these great European developments. In France,…
America’s Olympic Athletes Should Be Taxed on Their Winnings (but Not by the IRS)
My friends at Americans for Tax Reform have received a bunch of attention for a new report entitled “Win Olympic Gold, Pay the IRS.” In this clever document, they reveal that athletes could face a tax bill – to those wonderful folks at the IRS – of nearly $9,000…
Jobless Rate Climbs to 8.3 Percent, Creating More Anxiety for Obama and the Left
Can we finally all agree that Keynesian economics is a flop? The politicians in Washington flushed about $800 billion down the toilet and we got nothing in exchange except for anemic growth and lots of people out of work. Indeed, we’re getting to the point where the…