By Michael F. Cannon
Here’s a poor, unsuccessful letter I sent to the editor of the Washington Post: “Health-care provision at center of Supreme Court debate was a Republican idea” [Mar. 27, A7] describes the health care law Mitt Romney signed while governor of Massachusetts as comprised of “free-market ideas.” Really? RomneyCare’s individual mandate, now mirrored in ObamaCare, uses [...]
You Do Know What Makes It a ‘Free’ Market, Right? is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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The National Organization for Marriage is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute the individuals responsible for leaking the organization’s confidential U.S. tax return and then illegally publishing it. The stolen tax return was first published by the Human Rights Campaign and subsequently the Huffington Post. HRC is led by Joe Solmonese, who also serves as a co-chairman of President Obama’s reelection committee. In an April 25 letter to Kathryn Keneally, assistant attorney general for DOJ’s tax division, NOM President Brian Brown and Chairman John C. Eastman … More
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By Ilya Shapiro
This blogpost was co-authored by Cato legal associate Carl DeNigris. Before the argument on the Arizona immigration case yesterday, the Supreme Court scored a blow for American taxpayers by rejecting the IRS’s attempt to overturn the Court’s prior interpretation of a disputed provision of the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. §6501(e)(1)(A). By avoiding the issue of whether [...]
Supreme Court Gives Taxpayers a Muddled Win is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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While the Supreme Court deliberates whether the Affordable Care Act should stand, the Obama Administration is busy at work ensuring that the President’s health care law is implemented. The Hill reports that the White House has allocated half a billion dollars to the IRS to put Obamacare in place: The Obama administration is quietly diverting roughly $500 million to the IRS to help implement the president’s healthcare law. The money is only part of the IRS’s total implementation spending, and it is being provided outside the normal appropriations process. The … More
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Less than a month from tax day, a pair of reports from federal watchdogs raises serious concerns about the Internal Revenue Service’s handling of sensitive and confidential taxpayer information. Potential security problems reportedly stem from inadequate measures to ensure the security of digital information, and from the IRS’s failure to properly vet the vast majority of its employees. The Government Accountability Office released a report on Friday focusing on the agency’s IT security measures. It found five potentially problematic shortfalls in the IRS’s treatment of digital taxpayer information. …the agency … More
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A dozen U.S. senators sent a stern warning to the Internal Revenue Service yesterday: Don’t let politics play a role in recent inquiries of Tea Party organizations. In the past few months, the IRS sent detailed questionnaires to organizations in Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas asking about their political activities. Many of those groups have applied for tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(4) of the tax code. The IRS inquiry comes amid attacks on Tea Party groups from liberals, including seven Democrats who wrote to the IRS last week. “We urge the … More
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By Ilya Shapiro
This blogpost was coauthored by Cato legal associate Chaim Gordon. On Tuesday, the Institute for Justice brought a lawsuit to stop recent IRS regulations that require independent tax return preparers to pay a yearly registration fee, take a competency exam, complete 15 hours of IRS-approved continuing education every year, and possibly subject themselves to mandatory [...]
Suing the IRS for Fun and Liberty is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Daniel J. Mitchell
I fight to preserve tax competition, fiscal sovereignty, and financial privacy for the simple reason that politicians are less likely to impose destructive tax policy if they know that labor and capital can escape to jurisdictions with more responsible fiscal climates. My opponents in this battle are high-tax governments, statist international bureaucracies such as the [...]
Patriotism, Loyalty, Tax Competition, and ‘Tax Fugitives’ is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Daniel J. Mitchell
I fight to preserve tax competition, fiscal sovereignty, and financial privacy for the simple reason that politicians are less likely to impose destructive tax policy if they know that labor …
Patriotism, Loyalty, Tax Competition, and ‘Tax Fugitives’ is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Daniel J. Mitchell
Leftists want higher tax rates and they want greater tax compliance. But they have a hard time understanding that those goals are inconsistent.
Simply stated, people respond to incentives. When tax …
New Academic Study Confirms Previous IMF Analysis, Shows that Lower Tax Rates Are the Best Way to Reduce Tax Evasion is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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