by Dan Mitchell | Dec 21, 2018 | Blogs, Taxation
I have a series of columns where I explore tactical disagreements with folks who generally favor free markets and less government. In Part I, I defended the flat tax, which had been criticized by Reihan Salam In Part II, I explained why I thought a comprehensive...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 20, 2018 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation, VAT
A couple of weeks ago, I used a story about a local tax issue in Washington, DC, to make an important point about how new tax increases cause more damage than previous tax increases because “deadweight losses” increase geometrically rather than arithmetically. Simply...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 17, 2018 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
I recently wrote about the failed 1990 budget deal. My big complaint was that President George H.W. Bush compounded the mistake of higher taxes by also allowing a big increase in the burden of government spending. However, I didn’t blame the agreement for that year’s...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 15, 2018 | Blogs, Europe, Taxation
Less than 10 years ago, many European nations suffered fiscal crises because of a combination of excessive spending, punitive taxes, and crippling debt. The crises have since abated, largely because of direct and indirect bailouts. But the underlying policy...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 8, 2018 | Big Government, Blogs, Taxation
Maybe there’s hope for France. When Greeks, Belgians, and the Brits riot, it’s because they want more handouts. The French, by contrast, have taken to the streets to protest higher taxes. And they have plenty of reasons to be upset, as the Wall Street Journal reports....
