by Dan Mitchell | Jan 6, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Tax Competition, Taxation, Welfare and Entitlements
Three years ago, I put together a “Moocher Index” that measured the degree to which non-poor people in a state were benefiting from redistribution programs. As you can see if you click on the nearby table, Vermont was the worst state, followed by Mississippi, Maine,...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 26, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Europe, Government Spending, Welfare and Entitlements
Back in 2011, I linked to a simple chart that illustrated how handouts and subsidies create very high implicit marginal tax rates for low-income people and explained how “generosity” from the government leads to a tar-paper effect that limits upward mobility. Earlier...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 11, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs
I’ve written and pontificated about the problem of government-created dependency and how the welfare state traps people in poverty. I also shared this dramatic chart showing how redistribution programs create shockingly high implicit marginal tax rates for those with...
by Dan Mitchell | Nov 30, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Europe, Government Spending, Taxation
Washington frustrates me. The entire town is based on legalized corruption as an unworthy elite figure out new ways of accumulating unearned wealth by skimming money from the nation’s producers. But one thing that especially irks me is the way people focus on the...
by Dan Mitchell | Nov 29, 2012 | Blogs, Economics
It’s not something I should admit since I work at a think tank, which is based on the idea that substantive analysis can impact public policy, but I sometimes think humor and anecdotes are very effective in helping people understand issues. On the topic of...
