Why the So-Called Marketplace Fairness Act Is a Misguided Expansion of Power for State Governments

by Dan Mitchell | May 8, 2013 | Blogs, Tax Competition, Taxation

I’m either a total optimist or a glutton for punishment. I recently explained the benefits of “tax havens” for the unfriendly readers of the New York Times. Now I’m defending a different form of tax competition for CNN, another news outlet that leans left. In this...

Huge Value-Added Tax Increases in Europe Show Why Washington Politicians Should Never Be Given a New Source of Tax Revenue

by Dan Mitchell | May 7, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Europe, Government Spending, Taxation, VAT

The most important, powerful, and relevant argument against the value-added tax in the short run is that we can balance the budget in just five years by capping spending so it grows at the rate of inflation, a very modest level of fiscal restraint. The most important,...

Where Are the European Spending Cuts?

by Dan Mitchell | May 5, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Keynesian

Paul Krugman recently tried to declare victory for Keynesian economics over so-called austerity, but all he really accomplished was to show that tax-financed government spending is bad for prosperity. More specifically, he presented a decent case against the...

Are there any Lessons to Be Learned from the Rogoff-Reinhart Kerfuffle?

by Dan Mitchell | Apr 28, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending

For those who haven’t followed this issue, Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart wrote an influential paper in 2010 arguing that government debt above 90 percent of GDP was associated with weaker economic performance. It turns out that the Rogoff and Reinhart made a...

Explaining to the Kleptocrats on Capitol Hill that Tax Havens Should Be Emulated, not Persecuted

by Dan Mitchell | Apr 26, 2013 | Blogs, Economics, Tax Competition, Tax Havens, Taxation

Since I just left Monaco and am now in Geneva, this is an appropriate time to extol the virtues of so-called tax havens.   But I don’t merely say nice things about low-tax jurisdictions when I’m in friendly environments. I believe in swinging my sword in the...