Very funny column, but the underlying message is quite depressing: Last Thursday, the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board voted to set up a committee to examine whether condoms should be required on all pornographic film shoots. California has run out of money, but it hasn’t yet run out of things to regulate. For […]

When Dorothy and her friends finally reach Oz, they present themselves to the almighty Wizard, only to eventually discover that he is just an illusion maintained by a charlatan hiding behind a curtain. This seems eerily akin to the state of Keynesian economics. It does not matter that Keynesianism isn’t working for Obama. It does not matter […]

I know I promised extra political humor this week, but here’s some extra policy pain. Not only does government-run healthcare mean more spending, more regulation,and more taxes, but it also means more power for the internal revenue service. A new report reveals that the legislation makes the IRS the chief enforcer of the new scheme: […]

An insightful editorial from the Wall Street Journal examines how soak-the-rich taxes in Maryland backfired, leading to less revenue for the government. The politicians would like us to think this is just the effect of the recession, but the article points out that one out of every eight millionaires who filed a tax return in […]

According to the Sacramento Fox Network affiliate, a car wash in Sacramento recently came under investigation by the IRS and even received a visit from federal agents.  The cause:  The car wash owed a whopping four cents in backed taxes.  Certainly there is a valid “law-and-order” argument that even small infractions need to be addressed, […]

The geniuses in Washington have come up with a great idea to attract more tourists to the United States. Yes, you guessed correctly. The politicians are going to impose a tax! Normal readers are probably scratching their heads about the logic of attracting visitors by making them pay more, but it all makes sense when […]

President Obama is proposing a series of major tax increases. His budget envisions higher tax rates on personal income, increased double taxation of dividends and capital gains, and a big increase in the death tax. And his health care plan includes significant tax hikes, including perhaps the imposition of the Medicare payroll tax on capital […]

With the VAT becoming an ever-bigger issue, Dan Mitchell discusses the issue on CNBC. Dan’s opponent winds up agreeing with him:

One of the many reprehensible features of Washington is how companies climb into bed with government. They do this either because they want legislation to get undeserved wealth by screwing consumers or competitors, or they do it because they think they the government is going to do something bad to them and they hope to […]

Saw something very interesting on the National Review blog. We finally have some good news in the battle between government workers and the serfs who support them (i.e., taxpayers). A Rhode Island town, frustrated by the intransigence of the teacher union, decided to fire the entire staff of the local high school. The union was […]