I get a lot of email asking me about Greece, especially since I don’t give the issue much attention on the blog. I am paying close attention to what’s happening, especially since Greece is a canary in the coal mine. But I generally try to avoid being…
Daily Analysis
Robert Samuelson Punctures Obama's VAT Trial Balloon.
His article doesn’t completely slam the door on a value-added tax, but Robert Samuleson’s piece in the Washington Post does highlight some of the very serious problems with a VAT – including more government spending, burdens on families, additional…
Complicated Banking Regulations and Double Taxation Hurt Americans Abroad.
The New York Times ran an article this week about an increasing number of Americans living and working abroad who are considering taking the drastic step of giving up their American citizenship. Most of these expats would ideally like to maintain their citzenship but…
Yes, Taxes Change Behavior.
I’ve read several places that Ronald Reagan instinctively understood supply-side economics because Hollywood stars sooner or later learned that making more than a couple of movies per year was pointless when marginal tax rates were 90 percent. The same thing…
A Sordid Combination of Tax Greed and Protectionist.
Tax-news.com reports that the French and Italian governments want Europe to impose a tax on imports from nations that don’t adopt misguided climate-change/global-warming rules. This is awful policy, but the good news is that such a policy presumably won’t…
Awful Tax System Causing a Growing Number of Americans to "Go Galt"
Being an American citizen is an honor in many ways, but it is a huge millstone around the neck for highly successful investors and entrepreneurs because of an oppressive and complex tax system. This is particularly true for those based in and/or competing in global…
Vast Majority of the Senate Appears to be Against a VAT.
Last Thursday, the Senate took a vote on a non-binding “sense of the Senate” resolution concerning a Value Added Tax. The result was an 85-13 victory for the anti-VAT side. The roll call can be found here. The statement of purpose read as follows: Expressing the…
Another Dishonest Deficit Hypocrite
The serial mendacity that characterizes Washington is on full display in David Border’s column entitled “Without higher taxes, the national debt will be crushing.” Yes, this is the same David Broder who did not write columns about the threat of…
Bush Was a Statist, not a Conservative
A former White House speechwriter, Mark Thiessen, has jumped to the defense of his former boss, writing for the Washington Post that George W. Bush “established a conservative record without parallel.” Even by the loose standards of Washington, that is a…
A VAT Means Tax Day Is Every Day
Caroline Baum of Bloomberg has a good column against the value-added tax, in part because she quotes me, but more so because she effectively explains that a national sales tax like the VAT would be an add-on tax that would finance much bigger government: As Americans…