by Dan Mitchell | Nov 23, 2012 | Blogs, Economics, Flat Tax, Taxation
In addition to being my former debating partner, Richard Epstein is one of America’s premiere public intellectuals. You can watch him make mincemeat out of George Soros in this video, for instance, and you can listen to his astute observations about his former law...
by Dan Mitchell | Nov 14, 2012 | Blogs, Economics, Laffer Curve, Taxation
I’m a big believer in the Laffer Curve, which is the common-sense proposition that changes in tax rates don’t automatically mean proportional changes in tax revenue. This is because you also have to think about what happens to taxable income, which can move up or down...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 31, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation
I’m in Slovenia where I just finished indoctrinating educating a bunch of students on the importance of Mitchell’s Golden Rule as a means of restraining the burden of government spending. And I emphasized that the fiscal problem in Europe is the size of government,...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 4, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Europe, Government Spending, Laffer Curve, Taxation
Back in 2010, I excoriated the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, noting that David Cameron was increasing tax rates and expanding the burden of government spending (including an increase in the capital gains tax!). I also criticized Cameron for leaving in...
by Dan Mitchell | Apr 23, 2012 | Blogs, Capital Gains, Economics, Taxation
A good tax system (like the flat tax) does not impose extra layers of tax on income that is saved and invested. I’ve tried to emphasize this point with a flowchart, and I’ve defended so-called trickle-down economics, which is nothing more than the common-sense notion...