by Dan Mitchell | Jan 30, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Waste
I’ve periodically cited the great 19th-century French economist, Frederic Bastiat, for his very wise words about the importance of looking at both the seen and the unseen when analyzing public policy. Those that fail to consider secondary or indirect effects of...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 4, 2014 | Blogs, Economics
I like to think that I occasionally put together interesting and persuasive charts on fiscal policy. For instance, I think it’s virtually impossible to make a credible argument for tax hikes after looking at my chart showing how easy it is to balance the budget with...
by Dan Mitchell | Mar 26, 2014 | Blogs, Tax Competition, Taxation
Back in the 1980s and 1990s, there was a widespread consensus that high tax rates were economically misguided. Many Democrats, for instance, supported the 1986 Tax Reform Act that lowered the top tax rate from 50 percent to 28 percent (albeit offset by increased...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 20, 2014 | Big Government, Blogs, States
If you’re a libertarian, you generally don’t act and think like other people. Most folks, when they heard about Governor Christie’s bridge-closing scandal, focused on the potential political ramifications. But not me. My immediate reaction was to think that the...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 21, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Bureaucracy, States
Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird, it’s a plane…no it’s Super Bureaucrat! Actually, look to New Jersey, because you’re going to see a taxpayer ripoff that will get your blood boiling. Depending on your perspective, this may be worse than the toll collector on the New...
