by Dan Mitchell | Feb 4, 2014 | Blogs, Taxation
Why do statists support higher tax rates? The most obvious answer is greed. In other words, leftists want more tax money since they personally benefit when there’s a larger burden of government spending. And the greed can take many forms. They may want bigger...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 30, 2014 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation
Self awareness is supposed to be a good thing, so I’m going to openly acknowledge that I have an unusual fixation on the size of government. I don’t lose a wink of sleep thinking about deficits, but I toss and turn all night fretting about the overall burden of...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 5, 2014 | Blogs, Tax Competition, Tax Harmonization, Taxation
Over the years, I’ve shared some ridiculous arguments from our leftist friends. Paul Krugman, for instance, actually wrote that “scare stories” about government-run healthcare in the United Kingdom “are false.” Which means I get to recycle that absurd quote every time...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 22, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Taxation
It’s not easy being a libertarian, particularly if you follow public policy. Thomas Jefferson almost certainly was right when he wrote that “The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground.” Heck, just look at how small government...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 12, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Taxation
How Disappointing, but how predictable. Politicians approved legislation in 2011 that was supposed to impose a modest bit of spending restraint over the next 10 years. It wasn’t much. The enforcement mechanism, known as sequestration, merely was supposed to guarantee...