Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | California's Pension Tax
California Governor Jerry Brown is trying to sell his tax hike to voters this November by saying it will go to schools. The dirty little secret is that the new revenues are needed to backfill the insolvent teachers pension fund.
GAO | Sources of Noncompliance and Strategies to Reduce It
Testimony before the Subcommittee on Government Organization, Efficiency, and Financial Management, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House of Representatives
WSJ | Laffer and Moore: A 50-State Tax Lesson for the President
Barack Obama is asking Americans to gamble that the U.S. economy can be taxed into prosperity. That's the message of his campaign for the Buffett Rule, which raises income-tax rates on millionaires to a minimum of 30%, and for the expiration of the Bush tax cuts. He wants to raise the highest income tax rate by 20%, double the rate on capital gains, add a new 3.8% tax on all capital earnings, and nearly triple the dividend tax rate.
Blogs
CATO | Tax Complexity: Am I a Liar?
It is true that average households don’t get into the nitty gritty of those nine feet of rules. But many thousands of highly paid professionals do have to on behalf of their individual and business tax clients. That is part of the reason why the current federal tax system is so wasteful.
Tax Foundation | Pew Study Finds Many States Lack Fundamental Oversight of Tax Incentives
The Pew Center on the States has a new report examining state economic development tax incentives. The study did not evaluate the efficacy of the incentives themselves, but rather critically examined each state's evaluations of its own incentives.
