by Dan Mitchell | Oct 20, 2020 | Blogs, Taxation
Since Americans are not as sensible as the Swiss, I’m generally not a fan of direct democracy in the United States. Simply stated, I don’t like untrammeled majoritarianism, which occurs when 51 percent of voters can pillage 49 percent of voters. But I’ll admit that...
by Dan Mitchell | Oct 14, 2020 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation, Welfare and Entitlements
Bernie Sanders was considered a hard-core leftist because his platform was based on higher taxes and higher spending. Elizabeth Warren also was considered a hard-core leftist because she advocated a similar agenda of higher taxes and higher spending. And Joe Biden,...
by Dan Mitchell | Oct 6, 2020 | Blogs, Taxation
On election day, most people focus on the big-ticket partisan battles, such as this year’s contest between Trump and Biden. Let’s not forget, though, that there are sometimes very important referendum battles at the state (or even local) level. In 2019, I was very...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 21, 2020 | Big Government, Blogs, States, Taxation
If you’re a curmudgeonly libertarian like me, you don’t like big government because it impinges on individual liberty. Most people, however, get irked with government for the practical reason that it costs so much and fails to provide decent services. California is...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 18, 2020 | Big Government, Blogs, Taxation
New Jersey is a tragic example of state veering in the wrong direction. Back in the 1960s, it was basically like New Hampshire, with no income tax and no sales tax. State politicians then told voters in the mid-1960s that a sales tax was needed, in part to reduce...
