by Dan Mitchell | Dec 26, 2013 | Blogs, States, Taxation
It’s time to extinguish any lingering Christmas cheer. Today’s topic is over-bearing and tyrannical tax administration. To be more specific, we’re going to look at the extent to which taxpayers are mistreated during the process of collecting revenue. Yes, the amount...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 8, 2013 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
The title of this piece has an asterisk because, unfortunately, we’re not talking about progress on the Laffer Curve in the United States. Even Keynes himself accepted this. Like many other economists throughout the ages, he understood and agreed with the principles...
by Dan Mitchell | Nov 25, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending
Every so often, when the temptation is too great, I’ll comment on something written by Paul Krugman. When he botched his analysis of Estonia, for instance, I joined that nation’s President in correcting some egregious errors. And I periodically remind people that...
by Dan Mitchell | Oct 21, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Tax Competition, Taxation
There’s a tendency in public life to exaggerate the positive or negative implications of any particular policy. This is why I try to be careful not to overstate the potential benefits of reforms I like, such as the flat tax. Yes, we would get better growth and there...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 18, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation
We have an amazing man-bites-dog story today. Let’s begin with some background information. A member of the European Commission recently warned that: “Tax increases imposed by the Socialist-led government in France have reached a “fatal level”…[and] that a series of...