Taxation

The Real Surplus

by Sheldon Richman September 1, 2000

Gov. George W. Bush has a presidential campaign slogan that says: "The surplus isn't the government's money. It's the people's money." What about the other nearly $2 trillion the government takes from productive American citizens? Judging from the governor's campaign, that must be the government's money because the people aren't ...

Crime Creation

by Richard O. Rowland August 1, 2000

THE HAWAII TAX on cigarettes is the highest in the nation; $1 per package, $10 per carton. That’s after the federal government applies its tax. If you want to display your protest to a mindless drivel of government laws and rules, one way to do it is to smoke. So, cigarette smoking is appealing to teenagers, many of whom are ...

Kill the Estate Tax

by Sheldon Richman June 1, 2000

Alas, the bill moving through Congress that purports to repeal the estate tax is more valuable for what it reveals about its opponents than for what it would accomplish. The big-government lobby is up in arms about a Republican-sponsored bill, ...

The “Voluntary” Nature of the Income Tax

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 2000

To the Op-Ed Editor 728 words Contact: Andy Falkof Please send tear sheet. The "Voluntary" Nature of the Income Tax by Jacob G. Hornberger April, of course, is income-tax month, the month in which millions of Americans file their income tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service and pay whatever income taxes they still owe the U.S. government for last ...

The Taxman at Your Service

by Sheldon Richman February 1, 2000

At a time when federal revenues are the highest percentage of gross domestic product since the peak of World War II-over 20 percent-we are asked to feel sorry for the IRS. According to the tax agency, recent legislation has turned it into a shell of its former self. It is unable ...

A Cigarette Police for America?

by Richard M. Ebeling February 1, 2000

Included in President Clinton's proposed new budget is a call for a 25-cents-a-pack increase in the federal tax on cigarettes. Having seen his 55-cents-a-pack increase in the cigarette tax defeated last year by Congress, Clinton is hoping that a more modest proposal will have a better chance of getting enacted. ...

Short-Circuit the Internet Tax

by Sheldon Richman January 1, 2000

The wish to tax sales over the Internet has only one explanation: greed. I use that word advisedly. It is typically thrown around promiscuously to smear business people who earn fortunes by making consumers better off. That's a bad use of the term. But if by "greed" ...

What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen

by Fredric Bastiat December 1, 1999

Have you ever heard anyone say: "Taxes are the best investment; they are a life-giving dew. See how many families they keep alive, and follow in imagination their indirect effects on industry; they are infinite, as extensive as life itself." The advantages that government ...

Has Compassion Gone Astray?

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 1999

As part of his presidential-campaign theme of "compassionate conservatism," Texas Gov. George W. Bush recently announced nearly $500,000 in state-financed grants to Christian groups in Texas. "America will be changed because people of faith and good heart are willing to help people in need," Bush said. "I believe rallying ...

The Nationalization of Income

by Jacob G. Hornberger September 1, 1999

It's election time and Republicans are making their quadrennial call for income-tax cuts. Democrats are opposing them because the federal government needs the money to shore up Medicare and Social Security. The entire debate obscures an uncomfortable truth — that in 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution effectively nationalized the income of every American. Although most Americans honestly believe ...

Tax Cuts Are Free

by Sheldon Richman August 1, 1999

President Clinton insists that a tax cut is as irresponsible for the country as a pricey vacation would be for a family that can't pay its mortgage and meet other important expenses. Speaking to a women's group last week, the president said, "One of my bright staff members said, it's kind ...

Socializing the Children

by Sheldon Richman August 1, 1999

An unlikely conspiracy is afoot to foist socialized medicine on the American people. It's a conspiracy between the Clinton administration, the Republican-controlled Congress, and the Republican governors, so many of whom would have us believe that being "conservative" signifies a preference for limited government. While President Clinton failed to ...