By Mark A. Calabria
Apologists for big government have regularly warned that Europe’s austerity measures would push the European economy into a recession. To some extent they’ve been correct, but not for the reasons they claim. So far austerity in countries like Greece and Italy have been austerity for the private sector, not the public. They’ve attempted to close budget gaps [...]
Italy Slowly Recognizes that the Substance of ‘Austerity’ Matters is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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Americans who are scrambling to pay their taxes by Tuesday’s deadline are in store for more depressing news: The tax burden on American families has risen dramatically and will continue to climb into the future without action from Congress. This week’s chart outlines the growth of taxes over the past 45 years. Large tax increases are just months away. Jan. 1, 2013, is already being dubbed Taxmaggedon. Seven existing tax policies will end and 18 new taxes from Obamacare will begin, leading to a $494 billion tax increase at the … More
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No one likes tax increases, right? Not quite. Government unions do. In California, government unions recently postponed their contract negotiations until after a vote on an initiative that would hike taxes. The unions support the initiative, and they don’t want their new contracts to cause Californians to vote no. Their concern is understandable. Heritage senior policy analyst Jason Richwine estimates that on average government employees in the state make 30 percent more than their private sector counterparts. The minimum retirement age for most government employees in California is 50. To … More
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By Daniel J. Mitchell
As discussed yesterday, the most important number in Obama’s budget is that the burden of government spending will be at least $2 trillion higher in 10 years if the President’s plan is enacted. But there are also some very unsightly warts in the revenue portion of the President’s budget. Americans for Tax Reform has a [...]
How Can Obama Look at these Two Charts and Conclude that America Should Have Higher Double Taxation of Dividends and Capital Gains? is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Daniel J. Mitchell
Back in 2010, I crunched the numbers from the Congressional Budget Office and reported that the budget could be balanced in just 10 years if politicians exercised a modicum of …
New Congressional Budget Office Numbers Once Again Show that Modest Spending Restraint Would Eliminate Red Ink is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Daniel J. Mitchell
I don’t blame Democrats for wanting to seduce Republicans into a tax-increase trap. Indeed, I completely understand why some Democrats said their top political goal was getting the GOP to surrender the no-tax-hike position. I’m mystified, though, why some Republicans are willing to walk into such a trap. If you were playing chess against someone, [...]
Illinois Downgrade: More Evidence that Higher Taxes Make Fiscal Problems Worse is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Daniel J. Mitchell
In the past 20-plus years, I’ve seen all sorts of arguments for class-warfare taxation.These include: President Obama says he wants higher tax rates for fairness, even if the government doesn’t collect any revenue. Rich leftists say they want higher taxes because they can afford to pay, but then refuse when offered a chance to cough [...]
Soak-the-Rich Taxes Create Happier Nations According to Junk Science Study is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Daniel J. Mitchell
Austan Goolsbee, the former Chairman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, had a column in the Wall Street Journal that argues government spending isn’t too high. That’s obviously a silly assertion, as I explain here, here, and here, but I want to focus on what he wrote about tax revenues. Here’s the relevant passage [...]
Austan Goolsbee’s Budget Math Is Wrong – More than 100 Percent of Long-Term Fiscal Challenge Is Government Spending is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Daniel J. Mitchell
My Iowa caucus predictions from yesterday were hopelessly wrong, probably because I was picking with my heart rather than my head. As I noted a couple of weeks ago, Mitt Romney’s openness to a value-added tax makes him a dangerously flawed candidate, and I hoped Iowa voters shared my concern. In a column for today’s [...]
Mitt Romney, the Value-Added Tax, and America’s European Future is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Daniel J. Mitchell
I’ve written before about whether California is the Greece of America, in part because of crazy policies such as overpaid bureaucrats and expensive forms of political correctness, And we all know that California has one of the nation’s greediest governments, imposing confiscatory tax rates on a shrinking pool of productive citizens. So it is hardly [...]
Will the Last Job Creator to Leave California Please Turn Off the Lights? is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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