by Dan Mitchell | May 6, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending
I can say with great confidence that government bureaucrats are overpaid compared to people in the productive sector of the economy. Why am I sure that this is true, particularly when the so-called Federal Salary Council claims bureaucrats are underpaid? For the...
by Dan Mitchell | Mar 26, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Government Waste
Taxpayers all across America send lots of money to Washington, DC, in part because we’re supposed to believe that redistribution is a legitimate and desirable function of the federal government. But this is a very perverse form of redistribution. All that money going...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 22, 2013 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
I’m a proponent of a pro-growth and non-corrupt tax code. I mostly write and talk about the flat tax, though I’d be happy to instead accept a national sales tax if we could somehow get rid of the 16th Amendment and replace it with something so ironclad that even...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 30, 2012 | Blogs, Economics, States, Taxation
I have a handful of simple rules for good tax policy. Keep government small, since it’s impossible to have a reasonable tax system with a bloated welfare state. Keep tax rates low to minimize penalties against income, production, and wealth creation. Since capital...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 2, 2012 | Blogs, Economics, Laffer Curve, Taxation
Montgomery County in Maryland is not exactly a hotbed of free market thinking or a bastion of limited government. It’s one of the richest counties in the nation, but not because of entrepreneurship and wealth creation. Instead, it’s a bedroom community for over-paid...