by Dan Mitchell | Jan 21, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Europe, Government Spending, Taxation
The German Chancellor and French President have put together a plan to boost growth. Sounds like a good goal, but what specifically are they proposing? Some of the obvious ideas include: Lowering tax rates to boost incentives for productive behavior. Reducing the...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 20, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation
I don’t blame the Democrats for wanting to seduce Republicans into a tax-increase trap. Indeed, I completely understand why some Democrats said their top political goal was getting the GOP to surrender the no-tax-hike position. I’m mystified, though, why some...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 16, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Europe, Government Spending, Taxation, VAT
In a recent column for the Wall Street Journal, I explained why Mitt Romney’s interest in a value-added tax is deeply troubling. One of my key points was that the VAT is a money machine for big government. But don’t believe me. Look at Japan, where the politicians see...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 15, 2012 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
In the past 20-plus years, I’ve seen all sorts of arguments for class-warfare taxation. These include: President Obama says he wants higher tax rates for fairness, even if the government doesn’t collect any revenue. Rich leftists say they want higher taxes because...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 8, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation
Austan Goolsbee, the former Chairman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, has a column in the Wall Street Journal that argues government spending isn’t too high. That’s obviously a silly assertion, as I explain here, here, and here, but I want to focus...
