by Dan Mitchell | Jan 12, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics
I’ve frequently commented on Europe’s fiscal mess and argued that excessive government spending is responsible for both the sovereign debt crisis and the economic stagnation that plagues the continent. But it does seem that things have calmed down, so the readers who...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 10, 2013 | Blogs, Taxation
I’m not a big fan of the Internal Revenue Service, though I try to make sure that politicians get much of the blame for America’s convoluted, punitive, and unfair tax code. Heck, just look at these three images – here, here, and here – and you’ll find startling...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 8, 2013 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
There’s a debate among policy wonks about whether a no-tax-hike policy is an effective way of restraining the burden of government spending. At the risk of over-simplifying, the folks who support the “starve the beast” theory argue that there are political and/or...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 5, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
Our number one fiscal problem is an excessive burden of government spending. A big part of the solution is entitlement reform. Our number two fiscal problem is a punitive and corrupt tax code (as captured by images here, here, and here). A big part of the solution is...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 4, 2013 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
Washington is filled with debate and discussion about the economic burden of the federal income tax, which collected $1.13 trillion in FY2012 ($1.37 trillion if you include the corporate income tax). Yet politicians rarely consider the economic impact of payroll...