by Dan Mitchell | Dec 8, 2019 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Taxation, Welfare and Entitlements
I’ve written many columns about Sweden and Denmark over the past 10-plus years, and I’ve also written several times about Norway and Iceland. But I’ve mostly neglected Finland, other than some analysis of the country’s experiment with “basic income” in 2017 and 2018....
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 6, 2019 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Taxation
Arthur Okun was a well-known left-of-center economist last century. He taught at Yale, was Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors for President Lyndon Johnson, and also did a stint at Brookings. In today’s column, I’m not going to blame him for any of LBJ’s...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 2, 2019 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
Whenever I review a tax proposal, I automatically check whether it is consistent with the “Holy Trinity” of good policy. Low marginal tax rates on productive activity such as work and entrepreneurship. No tax bias (i.e., extra layers of tax) penalizing saving and...
by Dan Mitchell | Nov 26, 2019 | Blogs, Economics, Free Market
I’m a big fan of Marco Rubio. The Florida Senator has been very good on some big issues and on some small issues. And he’s willing to fight important philosophical battles. No politician is perfect (for instance, Rubio defends sugar subsidies), so I’ve always judged...
by Dan Mitchell | Nov 15, 2019 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
With their punitive proposals for wealth taxes, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are leading the who-can-be-craziest debate in the Democratic Party. But what would happen if either “Crazy Bernie” or “Looney Liz” actually had the opportunity to impose such levies?...
