Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Are Tax Dollars or Consumer Dollars the Best Source of Disaster Relief Funding?

›
In a recent commentary , Sheldon Richman explains why FEMA should be abolished and governments should abandon disaster relief. According to ...
Monday, November 12, 2012

Taxes and Colors

›
In a recent commentary , Jeffrey Frankel explores the correlations between the voting patterns of individual states and the social, cultural...
Friday, November 09, 2012

Tax Collection Obligation is Not a Taxing Power Issue

›
Eight years ago, in Taxing the Internet , I pointed out that “when it comes to taxing transactions and activities conducted on or through th...
Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Government Spending, Hypocrisy, and Respect

›
About a month ago, in Say One Tax-and-Spending Thing, Do Another , I criticized the politicians and government officials who claim to oppose...
Monday, November 05, 2012

Taxes, Governments, Budgets and Disasters

›
During debates about taxes and government, one of the examples posed as justification for using taxes to fund a federal government big enoug...
Friday, November 02, 2012

Public Financing of Private Sports Enterprises: Good for the Private, Bad for the Public

›
Once again, thanks to a reader, I have another opportunity to demonstrate why I object to spending tax dollars to finance the sports stadium...
Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Halloween Takes on a New Meaning and It Isn’t Happy

›
Since the inception of this blog, each year when Halloween rolled around, I have focused on a connection between that holiday and taxation. ...
Monday, October 29, 2012

When Privatization Fails: Yet Another Example

›
About five months ago, in Are Private Tolls More Efficient Than Public Tolls? , I described why it is wrong to put public assets into the ha...
Friday, October 26, 2012

How Not to Spend Tax Revenues

›
Though I have been accused of being a fan of raising taxes to support increased spending, the reality is that I favor spending reductions wh...
Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Defending the Mileage-Based Road Fee

›
Sometimes it’s easy to determine when an idea is gaining traction. The signal is the increase in the frequency and intensity of criticism of...
Monday, October 22, 2012

The Expensing Deduction is an Expensive and Broken Idea

›
It never stops. Usually it is a proposal to permit businesses to claim deductions for expenditures that otherwise would be capitalized and r...
Friday, October 19, 2012

Fishing for Deductions

›
When Congress creates provisions to benefit specific taxpayers in specific areas that have been economically disadvantaged, it ends up creat...
Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Which Do You Prefer: Income Tax, Earned Income Tax, Sales Tax, Property Tax?

›
At least in Pennsylvania, and most likely in other states, taxpayer dislike of real property taxes is pronounced. There almost always is pro...
Monday, October 15, 2012

Taking Tax Money Without Giving Back: Another Reality

›
My objections to spending tax dollars to finance the sports stadium projects of multimillionaires and billionaires is no secret. Eight years...
Friday, October 12, 2012

Fixing and Building Highways: An Excuse for Enriching the Private Sector?

›
California Representative John Campbell has joined the chorus of voices arguing that America’s infrastructure, particularly highways, bridge...
Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Using Tolls to Fund Other Projects

›
As I explained in The Revenue Diversion Problem , “I take a dim view of governments diverting user fee revenue to purposes unrelated to the ...