We’re hearing rumors that Secretary Geithner has agreed to provide a cost benefit on the proposed nonresident alien interest reporting regulation before it is finalized. But as I reported the other day, he has also stated their intention to go forward with…
Daily Analysis
A Case Study of How Government Handouts Undermine Human Decency and Social Capital
Why is big government bad for an economy? The easy answer is that big government usually means high tax rates, and this penalizes work, saving, investment, and entrepreneurship. And perhaps some of the spending is financed by borrowing, and this diverts money from…
Revolt of the Irish Tax Slaves
I wrote last year about a backlash from long-suffering Greek taxpayers. These people – the ones pulling the wagon rather than riding in the wagon – are being raped and pillaged by a political class that is trying to protect the greedy interest groups that benefit from…
With Washington Now Imposing the World’s Highest Corporate Tax Rate, Every Day is April Fool’s Day for American Companies
Last year, I expressed skepticism that the White House was serious about reducing the corporate tax rate. And, sure enough, when the Obama Administration produced a plan earlier this year, it was a disappointing mix of a few good provisions and several unpalatable…
Assurances on Destructive IRS Regulation Fall Short
Secretary Geithner offered little more than ‘you can trust us’ to assuage concerns.
Explaining Pro-Growth Tax Reform to the Senate Budget Committee
What do the flat tax and national sales tax (and even the value-added tax) have in common? As I explain in this Senate Budget Committee testimony, they are all single-rate, consumption-base, loophole-free tax systems that fulfill the key principles of good tax policy….
Should America Copy Europe, as Obama Believes?
Last year, I shared a very amusing Michael Ramirez cartoon showing Obama as the European lemming. Now, Mark Helprin takes a much more serious look at the same issue in the Wall Street Journal, commenting on the wisdom (or lack thereof) of Obama’s interest in the…
New Budget from Republican Study Committee Reduces Burden of Government to Where It Was When Bill Clinton Left Office
A couple of weeks ago, I offered some guarded praise for Paul Ryan’s budget, pointing out that it satisfies the most important requirement of fiscal policy by restraining spending – to an average of 3.1 percent per year over the next 10 years – so that government…
China, Regulation, Wealth, and Chicken Wings
While I’m not oblivious to geopolitical concerns, I don’t worry about China becoming a more prosperous nation. Yes, more wealth could enable the nation’s dictators to finance some unwelcome aggression, but I mostly think higher living standards will create pressure…
If Obamacare Is Constitutional, then Why Did the Founding Fathers Bother with a List of Enumerated Powers?
I think Obamacare is bad policy because it exacerbates the main problem with the current healthcare system, which is third-party payer. And as a public finance economist, I’m obviously not happy about the new taxes and additional spending in Obamacare. But those…