by Dan Mitchell | Dec 6, 2024 | Blogs, States, Taxation
While there are plenty of reasons to be depressed about public policy (particularly the growing burden of government spending), there are a few reasons to feel optimistic. Argentina’s libertarian revolution. School choice revolution in the states. Tax cutting...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 3, 2024 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
Donald Trump was a big spender during his first term in office. Even if you don’t count the orgy of pandemic-related spending, he spent more and spent faster than Barack Obama. He even increased domestic spending faster than Obama!...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 12, 2024 | Blogs, States, Tax Competition, Taxation
I’m a big fan of tax competition. I cheer when jobs, investment, and people (or even booze) move from high-tax jurisdictions to low-tax jurisdictions. This increases the rewards for good policy and also increases the punishment for bad policy. Given my...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 2, 2024 | Blogs, States, Tax Competition, Taxation
Massachusetts used to have a flat tax, but I warned back in 2019 that it was in danger. Sadly, my fears were warranted. In 2022, the state’s misguided voters approved a referendum to replace the flat tax with a system based on class warfare (a...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 15, 2024 | Blogs, States
In 2022, I wrote a two-part series (here and here) about fiscal decay in Illinois. I’m motivated to add Part III today because of this chart from Chris Edwards, which shows how many upper-income taxpayers are moving into a state compared to how...