by Dan Mitchell | Aug 19, 2014 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
What do cigarettes and capital gains have in common? Well, they both start with the same letter, so maybe the Cookie Monster could incorporate them into his favorite song, but I’m thinking about something else. Specifically, both cigarettes and capital gains tell us...
by Dan Mitchell | Jun 11, 2014 | Blogs, Economics, Europe, Laffer Curve, Tax Competition, Taxation
When the new Tory-led government came to power in the United Kingdom, I was rather unimpressed. David Cameron positioned himself as a British version of George W. Bush, full of “compassionate conservative” ideas to expand the burden of government. But even worse than...
by Dan Mitchell | Jun 9, 2014 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Laffer Curve
There’s an old saying that there’s no such thing as bad publicity. That may be true if you’re in Hollywood and visibility is a key to long-run earnings. But in the world of public policy, you don’t want to be a punching bag. And that describes my role in a book...
by Dan Mitchell | Jun 8, 2014 | Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Laffer Curve, Taxation
The title of this post sounds like the beginning of a strange joke, but it’s actually because we’re covering three issues today. Our first topic is corporate taxation. More specifically, we’re looking at a nation that seems to be learning that it’s foolish the have a...
by Dan Mitchell | May 28, 2014 | Blogs, Economics, Laffer Curve, Taxation
If you appreciate the common-sense notion of the Laffer Curve, you’re in for a treat. Today’s column will discuss the revelation that Francois Hollande’s class-warfare tax hikes have not raised nearly as much money as predicted. And after the recent evidence about the...