Martin Feldstein’s on a roll, but not in a good way. Earlier this week in the Wall Street Journal, he advocated throwing in the towel on reforming Social Security into a system of personal retirement accounts. Today, in the New York Times, he endorses big tax…
Daily Analysis
Seven Reasons to Oppose Higher Taxes
As I have explained elsewhere, tax increases are a bad idea – unless you favor bigger government. And I’ve already added my two cents to the tax debate between Senator Coburn and Grover Norquist regarding the desirability of higher taxes. So it won’t surprise anyone…
If We Redistribute Income, Why Not Do the Same for Grades?
I posted a joke about this last year, but this video makes the point much more effectively. When you tax and redistribute income or grades, you penalize those who achieve and work hard. Kudos to the college kids who put this together. The volume sometimes is…
Why Do Rich Left-Wingers Support Class-Warfare Taxes?
Why do some people instinctively despise wealth and want to tear down those who are successful? This question has been percolating in my mind because I am in Monaco to speak to the IXth international conference of the Convention of Independent Financial Advisors. This…
White House to Propose 26 Percent Corporate Tax Rate?!? Look Before You Leap
According to an article in the New York Times, the Obama Administration is seriously examining a proposal to reduce America’s anti-competitive 35 percent corporate tax rate. The Obama administration is preparing to inject an unpredictable new variable into its…
Tax Increases Are Political Poison for the GOP
Republicans are fighting about taxes. But they’re fighting with each other, not Democrats. I’ve already written about this topic once, but the issue has become more heated, and the stakes have become much larger. And this time I’m going to focus on the political…
Senator Rubio, Representative Posey, and other Lawmakers Fighting to Stop IRS Proposal that Would Drive Investment from U.S. Economy
There hasn’t been much good economic news in recent years, but one bright spot for the economy is that the United States is a haven for foreign investors and this has helped attract more than $10 trillion to American capital markets according to Commerce Department…
I’ll Gladly Trade America’s IRS Agents for Pakistan’s Transgender Tax Collectors
I suppose there are some good jokes to make about Pakistan employing transgender tax collectors in an attempt to coerce more money from taxpayers, but I’m enough of a policy wonk to have serious questions about the system. First, why does the government need to…
The IRS: Even Worse Than You Think
Since it is tax-filing season and we all want to honor our wonderful tax system, let’s go into the archives and show this video from last year about the onerous compliance costs of the internal revenue code. Narrated by Hiwa Alaghebandian of the American Enterprise…
Imagine How Simple Life Would Be if America Had a Non-Corrupt Tax System
If you go to the IRS website, there are about one thousand forms (and accompanying material such as instruction documents) that you can download. Fortunately, most of us only have to worry about a small fraction of what’s on that list, but it’s still a nightmare – and…