In addition to being in favor of more spending, increased regulation, bailouts, and protectionism, President Bush also saddled the economy with a big minimum wage increase. A new study shows that this pernicious policy has destroyed more than 500,000 part-time jobs….
Daily Analysis
The Fox Butterfield Effect and the Laffer Curve.
A former reporter for the New York Times, Fox Butterfield, became a bit of a laughingstock in the 1990s for publishing a series of articles addressing the supposed quandary of how crime rates could be falling during periods when prison populations were expanding. A…
Say No to a VAT.
With the VAT becoming an ever-bigger issue, Dan Mitchell discusses the issue on CNBC. Dan’s opponent winds up agreeing with him:
A Value-Added Tax Is Not the Answer…Unless the Question is How to Finance Bigger Government.
While admitting that spending restraint is the ideal approach, Tyler Cowen of Marginal Revolution asks whether a value-added tax (VAT) might be the most desirable of all realistic options for dealing with an unsustainable budget situation. Read his post for yourself,…
Bureaucrats vs. Taxpayers, Part X.
Saw something very interesting on the National Review blog. We finally have some good news in the battle between government workers and the serfs who support them (i.e., taxpayers). A Rhode Island town, frustrated by the intransigence of the teacher union, decided to…
Maybe Greece Should Go Bankrupt.
The fiscal crisis in Greece is fascinating political theater, in part because the Balkan nation is a leading indicator for what will probably happen in many other countries. The most puzzling feature of the crisis is the assumption in other European capitals,…
Sex-Change Operations Are Deductible According to Tax Court.
The internal revenue code is a monstrous nightmare of special-interest loopholes and class-warfare penalties, but at least is generates some interesting stories. Here’s a report from Bloomgberg about a court deciding that the costs of switching from a man to a…
Bashing Obama’s Class-Warfare Tax Policy on CNBC.
No left-winger to debate in this appearance.
Second Stimulus Could Feature Inefficient Tax Cut.
The political crowd in Washington is looking to put together a so-called jobs bill, but even when politicians include tax cuts, they choose the wrong approach.
Revenge of the Laffer Curve, Part III.
The bloodsuckers and leeches in the U.K. government are better than their counterparts in the United States. Unlike the American revenue-estimating system, which assumes higher tax rates raise revenue, the British bureaucracy admits that the new 50 percent tax rate…