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,…
Daily Analysis
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…
Bureaucrats vs. Taxpayers, Part VII.
Here’s another depressing column about how government workers are getting showered with high pay and lavish benefits while people in the productive sector of the economy are bearing the economic pain of financing a bloated welfare state: …government…
Political Alchemy: Turning Spending Increases into Tax Cuts, Part I.
Politicians in Washington have come up with something far more impressive than turning lead into gold or water into wine. Using self-serving budget rules, they can increase the burden of government spending and say they are cutting taxes instead. This bit of…
Bureaucrats vs. Taxpayers, Part V.
This may not be as dumbfounding as being told not to advertise for reliable people in England, but I certainly was shocked to see that nearly one-in-five federal bureaucrats is paid more than $100,000 – and that doesn’t even include overtime and bonuses!…