by Dan Mitchell | Mar 2, 2026 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
One of the key insights of good tax policy is that people respond to incentives. If tax rates are punitive, people will do what they can to protect themselves from predatory government. Especially if they have any ability to control the timing,...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 10, 2026 | Blogs, Taxation
At the end of December, I wrote about the pro-spending lobbies pushing to put an insanely foolish retroactive wealth tax on the ballot later this year. I followed up last month with a column about rich people prudently escaping the state. Today,...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 8, 2026 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
When trying to educate people about taxes, I often share this visual showing a taxpayer trying to figure out whether he should try to earn more income. The simple message is that a taxpayer is more likely to choose to earn more income if the tax rate on that...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 30, 2026 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
The death tax presumably is the most destructive tax on a per-dollar-collected basis, but I suspect the capital gains tax is in second place. Like the death tax, the capital gains tax is pure double taxation, thus exacerbating the tax...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 29, 2026 | Blogs, Economics, Laffer Curve, Taxation
Unless you’re a policy wonk, I realize “exciting” may not be the right word to describe new developments in public-finance economics. For nerds, however, three economists at the Joint Committee on Taxation have some important new research on the Laffer...
