Writing in the Wall Street Journal, my Cato Institute colleague Alan Reynolds offers a simple economics lesson about pitfalls of class-warfare tax policy:  …the evidence is clear that when marginal tax rates go up, the amount of reported incomes goes down. Economists call that “the elasticity of taxable income” (ETI), and measure it by examining […]

Everyone’s favorite bureaucracy really stepped in it recently, when they harassed a car wash owner for an upaid tax bill of (drumroll please) four cents. But since we’re talking about the Internal Revenue Service, the bureaucrats also tacked on an extra $200 to the bill – even though the owner had never been notified of […]

This Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation video shows how the flat tax would benefit families and businesses, and also explains how this simple and fair system would boost economic growth and eliminate the special-interest corruption of the internal revenue code.

 If nothing else, the Obama Administration at least is consistent. Not only do they want higher taxes in America, but they also want other nations to pursue ruinous class warfare policies. Here’s an excerpt from Tax-news.com:  US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, wants Pakistan to review the tax treatment of the country’s most affluent taxpayers […]

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 […]