For the more than a decade the Internal Revenue Service has been chasing after potential U.S. tax evaders by forcing foreign jurisdictions and banks to become deputy tax collectors. From the Know-Your-Customer regulations to the Qualified Intermediary regime, non-U.S….
Daily Analysis
The IRS Run Amok
I’m not a big fan of the Internal Revenue Service, but I try not to demonize the bureaucrats because politicians actually deserve most of the blame for America’s complex, unfair, and corrupt tax system. The IRS generally is in the unenviable position of simply trying…
The Public Overwhelmingly Wants Spending Cuts, but Will the GOP Deliver?
We have some very encouraging polling data from CBS News. The American people prefer spending cuts over tax increases by a margin of more than 8-1. Americans strongly prefer cutting spending to raising taxes to reduce the federal deficit. While 77 percent prefer to…
You Be the Judge: Which Example of Tax Collectors Running Amok Is Worse?
You readers have been presented with a series of challenging quizzes on topics such as Sharia law, healthcare, incest, and vigilante justice. Let’s now shift to the world of taxation. We all know governments routinely make life hard for taxpayers. The IRS, for…
Disastrous U.K. Tax Hike Unleashes a Steroid-Pumped Version of the Laffer Curve
The Laffer Curve is one of my favorite issues (see here, here, here, here, here, etc). But it is a very frustrating topic. Half my time is spent trying to convince left-leaning people that the Laffer Curve exists. I use common-sense explanations. I cite historical…
Animal House, John Galt, the Laffer Curve, and the Race to Commit Fiscal Suicide in Illinois
There is a very bizarre race happening in Illinois. The Governor and the leaders of the State Senate and General Assembly are trying to figure out how to ram through a massive tax increase, but they’re trying to make it happen before new state lawmakers take office…
Republican Sellout Watch
Grousing about the GOP’s timidity in the battle against big government will probably become an ongoing theme over the next few months, and let’s start with two items that don’t bode well for fiscal discipline. First, it appears that Republicans didn’t really mean it…
Five Things We Should Worry about in 2011
The mid-term elections were a rejection of President Obama’s big-government agenda, but those results don’t necessarily mean better policy. We should not forget, after all, that Democrats rammed through Obamacare even after losing the special election to replace Ted…
If I Got to Write New Year’s Resolutions for the GOP…
Republicans did a terrible job last time they were in power. The created a new entitlement program for prescription drugs. They further centralized education with the no-bureaucrat-left-behind legislation. They undid the positive reforms of the 1990s with…
According to Census Data, People Vote with their Feet for Less Government
The world is a laboratory and different nations are public policy experiments. Not surprisingly, the evidence from these experiments is that nations with more freedom tend to grow faster and enjoy more prosperity. Nations with big governments, by contrast, are more…