by Dan Mitchell | Nov 25, 2025 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
Two months ago, I wrote a column about Italy’s fiscal deterioration and included a chart showing the country moving in the wrong direction, both in the past few years as well as since the turn of the century. Let’s now do the same thing, based on IMF...
by Dan Mitchell | Jun 1, 2024 | Blogs, Europe, Taxation
When I think of the world’s most mistreated taxpayers, a few options come to mind. Cam Newton, the quarterback who faced a marginal tax rate of nearly 200 percent on his Super Bowl bonus. The 8,000 French households who had to surrender more than 100 percent of their...
by Dan Mitchell | May 16, 2024 | Blogs
My writings about Belgium have been very sporadic. When I do comments about that country’s policies, it’s usually to complain about the excessive burden of government spending (as captured by this OECD chart). Today’s column will be...
by Dan Mitchell | May 28, 2019 | Big Government, Blogs, Europe, Taxation, Welfare and Entitlements
I periodically explain that a European-sized welfare state can only be financed by huge taxes on lower-income and middle-class taxpayers. Simply stated, there aren’t enough rich people to prop up big government. Moreover, at the risk of mixing my animal metaphors,...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 18, 2018 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Waste
Given the routine corruption and reckless spending in Washington, I frequently get asked how I keep my sanity. It’s possible, as some of my friends argue, that I’m not actually sane. That would explain why I try to put my finger in the dyke of big government as more...
