by Dan Mitchell | Mar 30, 2012 | Blogs, Economics, Flat Tax, Taxation, VAT
What do the flat tax and national sales tax (and even the value-added tax) have in common? As I explain in this Senate Budget Committee testimony, they are all single-rate, consumption-base, loophole-free tax systems that fulfill the key principles of good tax policy....
by Dan Mitchell | Mar 16, 2012 | Blogs, Flat Tax, Taxation
Early in 2010, I wrote about a reprehensible IRS plan to create a cartel in the tax preparation industry, which would screw small firms and entrepreneurs to help line the pockets of big companies such as H&R Block. And, earlier this year, I specifically criticized...
by Dan Mitchell | Mar 12, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Flat Tax, Government Spending, Taxation
Last year, while lounging on the beach in the Caribbean…oops, I mean while doing off-site research, I developed the first iteration of a rule to describe how fiscal policy should operate. Good fiscal policy exists when the private sector grows faster than the public...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 29, 2012 | Blogs, Flat Tax, Taxation
This interview with the IRS Commissioner is really irritating. He wants us to believe that all the problems exist because of bad laws enacted by Congress. I certainly agree that the crowd in Washington is venal, corrupt, and duplicitous. But the IRS takes a bad...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 30, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Flat Tax, Government Spending, Taxation
Leftists want higher tax rates and they want greater tax compliance. But they have a hard time understanding that those goals are inconsistent. Simply stated, people respond to incentives. When tax rates are punitive, folks earn and report less taxable income, and...
