If Even the International Monetary Fund Acknowledges the Laffer Curve, Why Doesn’t Obama Realize that Higher Tax Rates are All Pain and No Gain?

by Dan Mitchell | Feb 27, 2012 | Blogs, Economics, Laffer Curve, Taxation

I speculated last year that the political elite finally might be realizing that higher tax rates are not the solution to Greece’s fiscal situation. Simply stated, you can only squeeze so much blood out of a stone, and pushing tax rates higher cripples growth and...

Obama’s Corporate Tax Refom: Rearranging the Deck Chairs on the Titanic?

by Dan Mitchell | Feb 23, 2012 | Blogs, Taxation

American companies are hindered by what is arguably the world’s most punitive corporate tax system. The federal corporate rate is 35 percent, which climbs to more than 39 percent when you add state corporate taxes. Among developed nations, only Japan is in the same...

How Can Obama Look at these Two Charts and Conclude that America Should Have Higher Double Taxation of Dividends and Capital Gains?

by Dan Mitchell | Feb 14, 2012 | Blogs, Capital Gains, Economics, Taxation

As discussed yesterday, the most important number in Obama’s budget is that the burden of government spending will be at least $2 trillion higher in 10 years if the President’s plan is enacted. But there are also some very unsightly warts in the revenue portion of the...

According to Obama’s Budget, Burden of Federal Spending Will Be $2 Trillion Higher in 10 Years

by Dan Mitchell | Feb 13, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending

President Obama’s budget proposal was unveiled today, generating all sorts of conflicting statements from both parties. Some of the assertions wrongly focus on red ink rather than the size of government. Others rely on dishonest Washington budget math, which means...

Classic Cartoon on So-Called Stimulus Is Amusing and Economically Accurate

by Dan Mitchell | Feb 6, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Keynesian

People often ask why I put so much political humor on this site. The easy answer is that I like a good joke. But I also find that some cartoons and jokes do a very good job of helping people understand economics. I’ve always liked this cartoon, for instance, because...