by Dan Mitchell | Jan 25, 2024 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
The ideal fiscal policy is a spending cap and the specific design is not terribly important so long as the net effect is to have government spending grow slower than the private sector. Switzerland’s Debt Brake complies with this requirement....
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 22, 2023 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
Spending caps are the only fiscal rule with a good track record. I’ve repeatedly written about Switzerland’s spending cap, known as the “debt brake,” which has limited annual spending growth to an average of just 2.2 percent over the past two decades....
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 21, 2023 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
When making the case for spending caps, the best domestic example is Colorado and the best international example is Switzerland. What makes the Swiss example especially persuasive is a comparison over the past 20 years between...
by Dan Mitchell | Nov 8, 2023 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
Since I care about policies rather than politicians, yesterday’s most important election was a referendum that took place in Colorado. The big-spending lobbies once again tried to weaken the state’s spending cap, known as TABOR, or the Taxpayer Bill of...
by Dan Mitchell | Oct 14, 2023 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, States
Every year, I highlight the most important ballot initiative or referendum. In 2022, Massachusetts voters tragically voted to replace the state’s flat tax with a system based on class warfare.In 2021, voters in the state of Washington...