Martin Feldstein says that the planned budget cuts at the Department of Defense shouldn’t happen. At first read the idea seems ludicrous. The U.S. already has a huge budget deficit caused in large part by excessive military spending. But Feldstein argues that depleted supplies and overworked equipment should be replaced now and that doing so…
Category: Taxation
I.O.U.S.A. the Movie
To the extent that a slap in the face is ever something to seek out, the free, 30-minute version of I.O.U.S.A the Movie is a must-see. One excerpt has David Walker, Controller General of the United States, saying our current standard of living is unsustainable. Walker: We suffer from a fiscal cancer it is growing…
Obama on Taxes
I have every confidence that Barack Obama believes himself when he says that tax levels and brackets should be about fairness. In fact, the idea of fairness is at the heart of his whole economic argument. And he goes back to it in almost every public appearance. He talks about it as a general theme:…
Hillary Ignoring Economists on Gas Tax Holiday
Robert Reich, a former Clinton Secretary of Labor who now favors Barack Obama, says that the gas tax holiday Ms. Clinton supports – as does John McCain – is "economically stupid" and would increase demand for gas while costing the government $9B to finance. And he’s not alone. …when economists tell a president or a…
In Favor of Keeping Gas Tax
Federal gas taxes help support America’s transportation system, one in which roadways all over the nation are being repaired and upgraded after a period of significant neglect. It’s unpleasant to pay the $0.18 extra per gallon, yet there are worse things. Thomas Friedman has this to say about the unholy alliance of McCain & Clinton…
Liberals, Taxes, and Pain
Sometimes I have a tendency to treat liberal as if it is a dirty word. And sometimes I skip the part about explaining why that is, yet again, because that dirtiness is so obvious. Since an apology is required for every misdeed in this day and age, well, I’m sorry for not spelling it out. …
WSJ Disproves Wage Stagnation
Earlier today the Wall Street Journal showed how the myth of income stagnation and decreased social mobility is just that – a myth: The Treasury study examined a huge sample of 96,700 income tax returns from 1996 and 2005 for Americans over the age of 25. The study tracks what happened to these tax filers…
NPR, PBS, and your money
Every now and then, I swallow a couple sedatives and visit the moveon.org web site. I figure it’s my duty to head over there, if only to confirm in my own mind my views. Needless to say, it provides fodder for discussions in arenas like here. At any rate, there’s a current campaign to elicit…
IRS Employees Mis-using Computers?
Internal Revenue Service employees using thousands of computers accessed prohibited Web sites, blah, blah, blah. There’s nothing unusual about this; every company has the same issues in this day and age. But maybe this is why I just got my tax refund this past week…
Marriage Tax Penalty
Simple mathematical proof that the tax man is sticking it to married couples. Is it time for a flat tax yet?