How Will We Pay for a $1.9 Trillion Spending Bill?
“Politicians are quick to ignore the costs of government spending in proposing legislation and obscure those costs by issuing debt rather than raising revenues. It is politically popular to issue debt and send checks to everyone. The benefits of the policy are clear: people get checks. The costs, which ripple out through financial markets as interest rates are bid up, are difficult to tie to the policy.” ~ Nicolás Cachanosky
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The 1% Pay 37% of Federal Income Taxes
The IRS has released new tax data that demonstrate how much we’ve been fooled by claims that the rich aren’t paying their fair share. Those claims are based on statistical errors and incomplete data. Now that we have the complete data, we gain more per …
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Troubles with the Economists’ Case for a Carbon Tax
Carbon emissions are not, contrary to what many economists and non-economists seem to believe, approaching the idea of a pure externality; their costs are only partially external to the main transaction.
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Hipster Antitrust Is Overdue for a Backlash
Democrats can reject neo-Brandeisian antitrust along with the other pillars of left-populism, or seek a victory that in many ways will prolong rather than end the Trump era.
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Decrying Income Inequality Is a Tactic to Gain More Power for Government
The 2020 presidential field is saturated with candidates decrying wealth inequality and making the argument to soak the rich. One front-runner, for instance, is constantly denouncing “the millionaires and the billionaires.” Ominously, a New York Times …
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The Times’s Editorial Page Lies with Statistics
When debating tax policy it is important to use empirical evidence to inform the discussion of what rates the top earners currently pay and what rates we would like them to pay, or if a rate change is even warranted at all.
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Tariffs Tax Your Freedom
Freedom goes down when tariff revenues go up. It’s high time we revisited the Declaration of Independence and renewed our commitment to freedom.
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Medicare-For-All Is a Plot to Pillage You
We still have no clue just who will pay for what and how much the bill will be.
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The Big Fib about the Rich and Taxes
The primary driver of Saez and Zucman’s claims about the tax rates on the wealthy do not reflect a regressive shift over time. They arise almost entirely out of unconventional and contested adjustments to their previous numbers.
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Government Is the Real Victim of “Billionaire Greed”
Casting billionaires as direct actors leading to poverty and inequality puts the actual well-being of people behind the short-term success of someone’s political agenda. Now that’s what I call injustice.
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Americans Aren’t Volunteering or Giving to Charity Because They’re Broke
With the U.S. government taking in more taxes each year, it is clear that Americans aren’t able to use their hard-earned money for good. Perhaps that’s one of the main reasons why Americans aren’t volunteering as often as we once did.
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No, the Poor Don’t Pay Higher Taxes Than the Rich
A new report in the New York Times claims the ultra-wealthy pay a lower tax rate than the poor. A closer look at tax statistics reveals that story is also likely wrong.
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