Category

Tax policy

• 10.24.08
  University of Sustainability
  Tax policy (0)

  George Will informs us that Congress is casting a greedy eye on tax-free university endowments. ("Washington's Willie Sutton Moment") It wants more money to control, so it wants to control how these endowments are spent. I agree with Will to some extent. We should never miss an opportunity to point out that corporate greed is mainly a problem of government greed (governments being our largest corporations). But instead of just complaining, I wish Will would suggest something positive, like removing the tax-exempt status of university endowments. It would be a positive step toward creating ...
  
  
• 07.20.08
  Voluntary tax
  Tax policy (2)

  From a book I'm reading: It was a "voluntary" tax in the sense that people controlled how much they paid by how much they consumed." No, I'm not reading a Neil Boortz book about the Fair Tax.  I'm reading "The Whiskey Rebellion : Frontier Epilogue to the American Revolution," by Thomas P. Slaughter (1986).   The statement above is in Chapter one, in a description of the much-hated British consumption taxes of the 18th century, usually known as interior taxes or excise taxes.  The British government was arguing the same way Neil Boortz does.
  
  
• 07.10.08
  Fair Tax enforcement
  Tax policy (1)

  I haven't heard much about Neil Boortz and his Fair Tax lately. But I was reminded of it when reading Chapter One of "The Whiskey Rebellion : Frontier epilogue to the American Revolution" by Thomas Slaughter (1986). I'm reading it in preparation for a bicycle tour later this summer. Fair Tax proponents think a sales tax would be unobtrusive. But here is how one writer described the enforcement of a sales tax (known then as an excise tax) in 18th century Britain. Excise, a monster worse than e'er before Frighted the midwife, and the mother tore. A ...
  
  
• 05.13.08
  Mike Adams is buying
  Tax policy, Term limits (0)

  Neil Boortz is a useful idiot of the welfare-police state, and it's sad to see that the normally sensible Mike Adams is buying his book and buying what he says. These Fair Tax people ought to think about about how this country's first consumption tax at the federal level brought about a huge expansion of governmental power in order to enforce it, and almost brought about civil war. (I'm referring to the Whiskey Rebellion.) Introducing an excise tax on the scale that these Fair Tax people are proposing will result in huge motivations for people to use ...
  
  
• 02.06.08
  A package to stimulate the growth of government
  Limits on government power, Tax policy, Welfare-police state (0)

  The WSJ editorializes on the "stimulus". President Bush and Congress are marching arm in arm to pass their economic "stimulus," but it's clear that at least one group of observers isn't impressed: investors. They blew right through all the Beltway happy talk yesterday, selling off the major stock indexes by some 3% or so on an ugly day. I suppose an alternative possibility is that investors are spooked by the prospect of a Clinton, Obama, or McCain becoming president and are bailing out while they can still cut their losses. But more likely they're spooked by the results of bipartisanship. I'm guessing the reason ...
  
  
• 01.25.08
  Compassionate bailout
  Tax policy (0)

  The Wall Street Journal calls our attention to the fact that Florida is trying to get the rest of the country to pick up the tab for its socialized disaster insurance system. (The Panhandle Pander) That way the people who live there don't have to take responsibility for choosing to live along disaster-prone coastlines. And why should they? After all, a lot of these Floridians are retirees who fled the icy weather and inheritance taxes of other states. Why shouldn't those left behind in other states pay higher taxes to support these peoples' expensive homes along ...
  
  
• 01.23.08
  Recession!
  Tax policy (0)

  That's the same title (exclamation mark included) that was on a mailing I received today from Noah T. Winer at moonbat.org. It's nice that they're having fun.  I look forward to receiving similar missives with subject lines like Toga party! or Food fight!
  
  
• 01.20.08
  Don’t think about permanence
  Bash the Messenger, Tax policy (0)

  The Wall Street Journal puts three reporters to work on a 1300-word lead article for its weekend edition titled, "Bush, Democrats Spar on Stimulus." And in all that controversy, those three did not find a way to use the word "permanent" even once. The article had this sentence, "Market observers suggested Mr. Bush's comments disappointed investors who were expecting more." But it couldn't bring itself to say that the more that's needed is permanence.
  
  
• 01.18.08
  Deep water
  Tax policy (0)

  I've never seen the guy on TV or heard him talk, but from what I've read, Ben Bernake sure knows how to act like someone who's in way over his head.   Here's the latest example, from Friday's Wall Street Journal: In that way, Mr. Bernanke's criteria for an effective stimulus package -- one that is "explicitly temporary" and designed to prop up spending in the coming year -- was a critical boost for Democratic efforts. But Mr. Bernanke, a former chairman of Mr. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, also said that "low taxes tend to stimulate efficient economic behavior and stimulate ...
  
  
• 01.14.08
  William Hogeland and The Whiskey Rebellion
  Checks and balances, Limits on government power, Tax policy (0)

  (Also posted to my Spokesrider blog). I've been reading a remarkable little book: "The Whiskey Rebellion" by William Hogeland (2006). The reading is in preparation for a bicycle tour this summer to some of the sites of the Whiskey Rebellion in southwestern Pennsylvania. What got me into this topic was the Hezekiah Wells family. Wells Hall on the campus of Michigan State University is named for him. Hezekiah Wells was important in MSU's early history, in part for keeping MSU from being merely an adjunct of the University of Michigan. He was also a big supporter of Abraham Lincoln's candidacy for the presidency ...