by Dan Mitchell | May 21, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs, Welfare and Entitlements
I sometimes feel guilty when commenting on Paul Krugman’s work. In part, this is because I don’t want to give him any additional attention, but mostly it’s because it’s too easy. Like shooting fish in a barrel. His advocacy of Keynesian economics, for instance, makes...
by Dan Mitchell | Mar 8, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Europe, Government Spending, Welfare and Entitlements
The most depressing data about America’s economy is not the top tax rate, the regulatory burden, or the level of wasteful of government spending. Those numbers certainly are grim, but I think they’re not nearly as depressing as America’s demographic outlook. As you...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 17, 2016 | Blogs, Economics, Flat Tax, Taxation
I’m in Hong Kong for series of meeting and briefings on various economic and policy issues. As you can imagine, I’m a huge fan of the jurisdiction’s simple 15 percent flat tax. It’s basically about as close to a pure flat tax as anyplace in the world. There is...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 17, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs, Taxation, VAT, Welfare and Entitlements
My views on the value-added tax are very simple and straightforward. If we completely eliminated all income-based taxes, I would be willing to accept a VAT (or even a national sales tax) as a revenue source for government. But unless that happens, I’m unalterably...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 22, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Welfare and Entitlements
Because of the budgetary implications, I think it’s more important to deal with Medicaid and Medicare than it is to address Social Security. If left on autopilot, Social Security will eventually consume an additional 2 percent of the private economy. That’s not good...
