by Dan Mitchell | Dec 2, 2019 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
Whenever I review a tax proposal, I automatically check whether it is consistent with the “Holy Trinity” of good policy. Low marginal tax rates on productive activity such as work and entrepreneurship. No tax bias (i.e., extra layers of tax) penalizing saving and...
by Dan Mitchell | Nov 30, 2019 | Big Government, Blogs, Taxation, VAT
I wrote yesterday about Japan’s experience with the value-added tax, mostly to criticize the International Monetary Fund. The statist bureaucrats at the IMF are urging a big increase in Japan’s VAT even though the last increase was only imposed two months ago (in a...
by Dan Mitchell | Nov 25, 2019 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation
I want lower taxes. I want to reform taxes. And I want to abolish existing taxes and block new taxes. But I also recognize that the biggest fiscal problem, both in America and elsewhere in the world, is that there’s too much government spending. This creates a bit of...
by Dan Mitchell | Nov 23, 2019 | Big Government, Blogs, Taxation
Free markets and limited government are a tried-and-true recipe for growth and prosperity. Indeed, it’s the only way for a poor nation to become a rich nation. Those are the policies that helpd North America and Western Europe become rich in the 1800s and it’s how...
by Dan Mitchell | Nov 15, 2019 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
With their punitive proposals for wealth taxes, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are leading the who-can-be-craziest debate in the Democratic Party. But what would happen if either “Crazy Bernie” or “Looney Liz” actually had the opportunity to impose such levies?...
