Higher Tax Rates on the Rich Will Backfire

by Dan Mitchell | Aug 29, 2010 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation

I know I’ve beaten this drum several times before, but the Wall Street Journal today has a very good explanation of why class-warfare tax policy will backfire. The Journal’s editorial focuses on what happened after the 2003 tax rate reductions. And below the excerpt,...

Time to Shut Down the Congressional Budget Office?

by Dan Mitchell | Aug 26, 2010 | Blogs, Economics, Government Spending

One of the many disappointing things about Republicans is that they fail to correct problems when they get power. After the 1994  “Gingrich Revolution,” the GOP had complete control of Capitol Hill. This meant complete authority over the Congressional Budget Office...

What’s the Ideal Point on the Laffer Curve?

by Dan Mitchell | Aug 18, 2010 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation

There’s been a bit of chatter in the blogosphere about a recent post on Ezra Klein’s blog featuring estimates from various economists about the revenue-maximizing tax rate. It won’t come as a surprise that people on the right tended to give lower estimates and folks...

With Tax Increases Looming, CBO Does About-Face and Frets about Deficits and Debt

by Dan Mitchell | Aug 1, 2010 | Big Government, Blogs, Health Care, Taxation

Like the swallows returning to Capistrano, the Congressional Budget Office follows a predictable pattern of endorsing policies that result in bigger government. During the debate about the so-called stimulus, for instance, CBO said more spending and higher deficits...