News
Daily Finance | All Couples Are Not Created Equal in the Tax Code
Equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans is often viewed as a moral issue, or a religious one. But in many ways, it's a financial issue, as well.
USA Today | What tax reform? Many 2010 tax breaks still in place
With all the talk about tax reform, there weren't many changes to tax law in 2011.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | California's Millionaire Tax Mirage
Governor Jerry Brown insisted in his State of the State speech last week that California is "still the land of dreams." He's certainly right if he's referring to his latest fantasy that raising taxes on the upper middle-class will generate an additional $5 billion annually over the next five years, eliminate the state's chronic budget deficits and pay down a large portion of its debt.
NY Times | A Better Tax System (Assembly Instructions Included)
Economists who study public finance have long agreed with William E. Simon, the former Treasury secretary, who said that “the nation should have a tax system that looks like someone designed it on purpose.”
Blogs
Café Hayek | More on Capital-Gains Taxation
Failure to tax capital gains – or failure to tax them at rates higher than they are currently taxed – is not such clear evidence of ‘favoritism toward the rich’ as the popular narrative (found, of course, in the NYT) would have it.
Library of Economics | The Optimal Capital Gains Tax Rate is Below Ten Percent
In a 2009 study done for the Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation (IRET), Ohio State University economist Paul D. Evans considers a broader criterion: the effect of capital gains tax rates on overall federal tax revenues.
National Review | Let’s Move to a Consumption Tax
The debate over Mitt Romney’s tax burden makes me think it is time to revive the idea that the income tax should go and a consumption tax should replace it.
