I thought conservatives were the ones with an unseemly fixation on sex. They’re supposed to be the Puritans who, in the words of Mencken, have a “haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” Maybe that’s true in a few cases, but it also appears that some…
Daily Analysis
Can You Name the One Nation in the World with a Higher Corporate Tax Rate than the United States?
I’ve made the point before that the United States foolishly imposes the highest corporate tax rate of all developed nations. But that obviously means it is theoretically possible for there to be a nation in the developing world that has a higher corporate tax rates….
Laughing at Obama’s Fumbled Attempt to Extort More Taxes with FAA Flight Delays
You don’t enjoy many victories when you fight for liberty, so I’m not averse to spiking the football on those rare occasions when we win. That’s why I shared this very funny cartoon last week to celebrate Obama’s belly flop on gun control. Now we have another cartoon,…
Explaining to the Kleptocrats on Capitol Hill that Tax Havens Should Be Emulated, not Persecuted
Since I just left Monaco and am now in Geneva, this is an appropriate time to extol the virtues of so-called tax havens. But I don’t merely say nice things about low-tax jurisdictions when I’m in friendly environments. I believe in swinging my sword in the…
New European Central Bank Study Finds that Government Spending Undermines Growth
The fiscal policy debate often drives me crazy because far too many people focus on deficits. The Keynesians argue that deficits are good for growth and this leads them to support more government spending. The “austerity” crowd at places such as the International…
FATCA: Exposing the IGA Bait-and-Switch
There are many problems with the FATCA intergovernmental agreement (IGA) process. From a US perspective, they agreements represent a subversion of the proper treaty process, an unconstitutional expansion of executive powers, and an unwise commitment to saddle US banks…
The Revised Bowles-Simpson Tax-Hike Plan Might Be even Worse than the Previous Version
I wrote last September that the budget plan put forward by Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson was fatally flawed. There were some positive features in the plan, to be sure, such as lower marginal tax rates. And I suppose it’s worth noting that the burden of government…
It’s Tax Freedom Day, So Congratulations (if You Don’t Live in New York, California, New Jersey, Illinois, etc)
It’s time to celebrate. That’s because we have reached Tax Freedom Day, meaning that – in the aggregate – we have finally earned enough money to pay for all the federal, state, and local taxes that will be imposed on us this year by our political masters. But we’re…
There’s Not Much Hope for Tax Reform
In recent months, I’ve displayed uncharacteristic levels of optimism on issues ranging from Obamacare to the Laffer Curve. But this doesn’t mean I’m now a blind Pollyanna. We almost always face an uphill battle in our efforts to restrain the power and greed of the…
New GAO Study Mistakenly Focuses on Make-Believe Tax Expenditures
I’m very leery of corporate tax reform, largely because I don’t think there are enough genuine loopholes on the business side of the tax code to finance a meaningful reduction in the corporate tax rate. That leads me to worry that politicians might try to “pay for”…