Taxation
Marc Comtois highlights another fascinating glimpse into the reasoning behind policy ideas that he and I agree are, well, in error. I’m speaking of this paragraph from Slate’s Matthew Yglesias: … I’m especially enthusiastic about the mortgage part. Suppose homeowners in expensive coastal cities couldn’t deduct their mortgage interest, what would happen? Well, what would…
As Michael Barone points out, historically, no matter the tax rate, tax receipts have almost never eclipsed 20% of GDP. The only time they did (20.5%) was in 2000 just before the dotcom bubble burst. Here’s the chart: Source: Economic Report of the President 2012, Appendix B, Table B-79, p. 412. As Barone explains: In…
Threats to the economy (cliffs and debts); RI lagging again (yawn); dependors and dependees; Social Security a problem; and a civil right to the war zone frat party. Continue reading on the Ocean State Current…
“[W]e’ve got to reduce spending before we can reduce taxes. Well, if you’ve got a kid that’s extravagant, you can lecture him all you want to about his extravagance. Or you can cut his allowance and achieve the same end much quicker. But Government has never reduced. Government does not tax to get the money…
Mainly on government’s bad incentives: bad housing spending in Providence, unlearnable spending lessons for the governor, stimulus corruption, and Medicaid reform. Continue reading the Ocean State Current…
In a white paper out yesterday from the Cato Institute, Governor Lincoln Chafee (as the chief executive of the Rhode Island government) received a score of D for fiscal policy. His score of 41 is based on spending, revenue, and tax changes that he proposed and/or that were implemented under his watch from January 2010…
Last night, I attended the first organizational meeting for the Tiverton branch of Sakonnet Toll Oppostion Platform (STOP), a cross-community effort to stop the state of Rhode Island from placing a toll on the Sakonnet River Bridge. If I was skeptical about the ability of residents to prevent the tolls before, I’m pretty well convinced that…
“Even if the government took all of the income earned by those who have an after-tax income of $1million or more, the amount of revenue generated would fall far short of eliminating the deficit.” More related charts here.
The House of Representatives–on a bi-partisan voice vote–passed the “Buffet Rule Act”, which allows anyone to voluntarily pay more in taxes. Under the legislation, which would still need Senate approval, taxpayers could check a box on their taxes and send in a check for more than they owe to the IRS. “If Warren Buffett and…