I hope the Speaker resists this siren song and says no to higher taxes.

Republicans say (and do) lots of stupid things, but the current fiscal debate has me focused on two specific statements. Both get me very agitated. Indeed, I’m so irritated that all Republican politicians should be fitted with shock collars and then zapped when they utter either one of these statements. Dumb Remark #1: “We shouldn’t […]

At his press conference today, President Obama repeatedly said that a “balanced approach” is needed to deal with the fiscal situation. The White House has obviously poll-tested and focus-grouped that phrase. But just because it’s gimmicky, that doesn’t mean balance is a bad idea. So I’ve decided to take the President’s challenge. I want to […]

News reports indicate that the left is putting enormous pressure on Republicans to sell out as part of the “Biden Group” negotiations between Congress and the Vice President. I explained the other day why the left is so anxious to get GOPers to surrender on the tax issue. Simply stated, the left’s fiscal agenda requires […]

Maybe I’m just old fashioned, or maybe I’m a bit stiff-necked, but I will never relent in my opposition to tax increases so long as the crowd in Washington is spending money on things that are not appropriate functions of the federal government. But that’s just one obstacle that has to be overcome. I will […]

The main political goal of the left is to seduce Republicans into supporting higher taxes. Bluntly stated, all of their fiscal policy goals require more tax revenue coming to Washington. The most important factor (from their perspective) is that they can’t make government much bigger than it is right now without a major tax increase. […]

I recently took part in a symposium on “The Budget Deficit and U.S. Competitiveness.” Put together by the Council on Foreign Relations, five of us were asked to concisely explain our thoughts on the issue. Here’s some of what I wrote: Excessive government spending can slow growth by diverting labor and capital from more productive […]

Martin Feldstein’s on a roll, but not in a good way. Earlier this week in the Wall Street Journal, he advocated throwing in the towel on reforming Social Security into a system of personal retirement accounts. Today, in the New York Times, he endorses big tax increases. Rather odd positions for someone who served as […]

As I have explained elsewhere, tax increases are a bad idea – unless you favor bigger government. And I’ve already added my two cents to the tax debate between Senator Coburn and Grover Norquist regarding the desirability of higher taxes. So it won’t surprise anyone to know that I fully agree with this new video […]

This Economics 101 video from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity gives seven reasons why the political elite are wrong to push for more taxes. If allowed to succeed, the hopelessly misguided pushing to raise taxes would only worsen our fiscal mess while harming the economy.