by Dan Mitchell | Feb 4, 2014 | Blogs, Taxation
Why do statists support higher tax rates? The most obvious answer is greed. In other words, leftists want more tax money since they personally benefit when there’s a larger burden of government spending. And the greed can take many forms. They may want bigger...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 26, 2014 | Big Government, Blogs
If you want to know why the left is wrong about income inequality, you need to watch this Margaret Thatcher video. In just a few minutes, the “Iron Lady” explains how some – perhaps most – statists would be willing to reduce income for the poor if they could impose...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 9, 2013 | Blogs, Capital Gains, Economics, Taxation
Back in the 1960s, Clint Eastwood starred in a movie entitled The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. I was thinking that might be a good title for today’s post about some new research by Michelle Harding, a tax economist for the OECD. But then I realized that her study on...
by Dan Mitchell | Nov 7, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, States, Tax Competition, Taxation
We know that countries suffer when taxes get too high, in part because investors, entrepreneurs, and other successful taxpayers escape to jurisdiction with less oppressive fiscal regimes. France is a glaring example. On steroids. We know that states also suffer when...
by Dan Mitchell | Nov 5, 2013 | Blogs, Taxation
There’s an off-year election today in the United States. There are no contests for the White House or Congress, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any important choices being made. I say that notwithstanding the fact that the big races between politicians at the state...