Two Cheers for Spain’s Anti-Tax “Carrot Rebellion”

by Dan Mitchell | Nov 18, 2012 | Blogs, Economics, Laffer Curve, Taxation

If there was a prize for fighting back against tax authorities, the Italians would probably deserve first place. I’m not aware of any other country where tax offices get firebombed. The Italians also believe in passive forms of resistance, with tens of thousands of...

The Joint Committee on Taxation’s Head-in-the-Sand Approach to the Laffer Curve

by Dan Mitchell | Nov 14, 2012 | Blogs, Economics, Laffer Curve, Taxation

I’m a big believer in the Laffer Curve, which is the common-sense proposition that changes in tax rates don’t automatically mean proportional changes in tax revenue. This is because you also have to think about what happens to taxable income, which can move up or down...

New International Monetary Fund Study Inadvertently Provides Very Strong Evidence against the Value-Added Tax

by Dan Mitchell | Nov 1, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Laffer Curve, Taxation, VAT

I’m not a big fan of the International Monetary Fund, largely because the folks in charge oftentimes advocate toxic policies such as bailouts, higher taxes, and currency devaluation. But there are some top-rate economists working at the IMF, and the bureaucracy has...

The Laffer Curve Strikes Again: Revenues Falling in Spite of (or Perhaps Because of) Spain’s Punitive Corporate Tax Rate

by Dan Mitchell | Oct 4, 2012 | Blogs, Economics, Laffer Curve, Tax Competition, Taxation

I’ve shared evidence from around the world (England, Italy, the United States, and France) and from various states (Illinois, Oregon, Florida,Maryland, and New York) to argue that it is foolish to ignore the Laffer Curve. Not that it makes any difference. I’m slowly...

France’s Fiscal Suicide

by Dan Mitchell | Oct 2, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Laffer Curve, Taxation

I try to be self aware, so I realize that I have the fiscal version of Tourette’s. Regardless of the question that is asked, I’m tempted to blurt out that the answer is to reduce the burden of government spending. But sometimes that’s exactly the right prescription,...