by Dan Mitchell | Jan 6, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Tax Competition, Taxation, Welfare and Entitlements
Three years ago, I put together a “Moocher Index” that measured the degree to which non-poor people in a state were benefiting from redistribution programs. As you can see if you click on the nearby table, Vermont was the worst state, followed by Mississippi, Maine,...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 18, 2012 | Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Taxation
One of the key ways of controlling state and local tax burdens, according to this map from the Tax Foundation, is to not have an income tax. But that’s not too surprising. States have just a couple of ways of generating significant tax revenue, so it stands to reason...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 12, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Tax Competition, Taxation
Hopefully we’re all disgusted when insiders rig the system to rip off taxpayers. And I suspect you’re not surprised to know that the worst examples come from California, which is in a race with Illinois to see which state can become the Greece of America. Well, the...
by Dan Mitchell | Oct 27, 2012 | Blogs, Tax Competition, Taxation
The half-joking response to the question in the title of this post is that policymakers should look at what’s happening in poorly run jurisdictions such as California, France, Illinois, and Greece – and then do just the opposite. In other words, steer clear of...
by Andrew F. Quinlan | Oct 15, 2012 | Blogs, Tax Competition, Taxation
Last week the Tax Foundation released report which provides a means for states to get away from a pernicious practice, one which many folks might be surprised to learn about. Most people think of property taxes as merely dealing with land and the structures on it,...