Here they go again. According to the news, the federal government intends to sprinkle $145 billion piecemeal among taxpayers in order to “fight recession.” The details of tax rebates are still to be worked out, particularly who exactly should benefit from the public largesse. But regardless, it is the principle that is rotten, and for reasons of
The cover story of the June 17, 2008 issue of the Wall Street Journal is, “Obama Plans Spending Boost, Possible Cut in Business Tax.” The story indicates that presidential hopeful Barack Obama would consider lowering the corporate tax rate if tax breaks and loopholes were eliminated. It reads, He stressed the idea was not a broad move toward Sen.
[ The Conscience of a Liberal . By Paul Krugman. W.W. Norton, 2007. 296 pages.]Like him or not, Paul Krugman is an economic theorist of distinction, a winner of the John Bates Clark Medal, and often rumored to be in the running for the Nobel Prize. It is disappointing, then, that Conscience of a Liberal contains virtually no economic theory.
Barack Obama’s tax advisers recently posted a piece in the Wall Street Journal about their candidate’s tax plans. Their article was designed to triangulate, painting their candidate as a tax cutter and the Republican opposition as a secret tax raiser. It was well written and well argued — not that you can really trust anything you read about what
This whole campaign has been dreadfully boring, with gaffe-avoidance techniques squelching all spontaneity, and it doesn’t help that the ideological parameters of the election have been so narrowly drawn as to make any thinking person want to shut up both the candidates and the media that cover them so lovingly. Still, one interesting point has
In his book, For Good and Evil: The Impact of Taxes on the Course of History , Charles Adams makes it quite clear that the taxpayers are the real servants, while the so-called public servants — the political class — are simply the masters setting the slave wage. Of course, the primaries, debates, etc., bring this truism to life, with every
Tired of reading yours truly on evils of the FairTax? Here is Bruce Bartlett’s newest analysis of the tax that’s anything but fair: “ Why the FairTax Won’t Work .” Mr. Bartlett has written a very exhaustive and very thorough critique of the FairTax. Since presidential wannabe Mike Huckabee backs the FairTax, this issue is very relevant. Don’t be
Income tax revolt is slowing making its way to the ballot in Massachusetts, and it’s picking up a few enemies along the way. According to a letter in the Boston Globe : “So when Libertarian leader Carla Howell launched a new effort to junk the income tax earlier this year, the powers that be made it clear that this time they would do everything
An oped calls for getting rid of the word taxes and replacing it with the word dues. Why? Well, the word taxes seems punitive, whereas dues suggests “obligation and duty.” Now we come to the civics text sermon: “we thrive because of the schools and transit systems and 10,000 other services that exist only because we have joined together.” That’s
When entrepreneurs and business owners and managers face difficulties in the market, it is rare for them to throw in the towel, blame the customer, increase prices and hope that the problem goes away. A business that does not live up to the expectations of the customer becomes marginalized and on the long run goes out of business. Because a
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.