Taxation

Eliminate, Don’t Reform, the IRS

by Sheldon Richman July 1, 1998

Yet again a taxpayer "bill of rights" has been enacted into law. And so, after all the recent revelations of Internal Revenue Service abuse, we can all now be confident the tax collector will respect the rights and dignity of every American. Right. And pigs have started flying. We've been here before. ...

Such a Deal!

by Sheldon Richman February 1, 1998

Let's keep this among ourselves, but we nonrich folks have a good thing going. Even though we are of modest means, we have a huge staff of servants who perform valuable services for us. The best part is that we don't even have to pay them. For example, when VCRs ...

Why Do the Taxpayers Have to Support Professional Sports?

by Sheldon Richman November 1, 1997

No sooner did Wayne Huizinga's Florida Marlins win the World Series than he repeated his hope that the city of Miami would build the team a new baseball park. Huizinga is a successful businessman who is convinced that the city will not finance the park if he is connected with the ...

The Republican Tax Fraud

by Sheldon Richman September 1, 1997

The Republican Party holds itself out as the anti-tax party. If nothing else, the GOP believes that calling for tax cuts is the sure path to electoral success. But as W. S. Gilbert wrote, things are seldom what they seem. The Republican record on taxes is nothing to ...

Taxes in the Electronic Global Market

by Sheldon Richman June 1, 1997

A recent issue of The Economist proclaimed "the disappearing taxpayer." It acknowledged the difficulty governments are beginning to experience in taxing their citizens owing to two phenomena: the mobility of capital in the global marketplace and the shift of commerce to the Internet. The difficulty can only become ...

April 15: Day of Infamy

by Sheldon Richman April 1, 1997

April 15 is here again. For many people the day heralds a tax refund. But what are they celebrating? That they loaned the government money interest-free in 1996? Why is it that if the government doesn't withhold enough tax, you may owe interest, but if the government ...

Cutting Taxes Is Selfish

by Sheldon Richman April 1, 1997

All right! Finally some basic talk about taxes. How refreshing! Inspiring my utterly sincere glee is a remark by Deputy Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers last week. He criticized people who want to cut the estate tax for being selfish. Ouch! That hurt. And the Republicans quickly responded. ...

Stop the Flood of Taxpayer Money

by Sheldon Richman March 1, 1997

Once again spring is heralded by swollen rivers in the Midwest. The overflowing Ohio River and its tributaries have caused heartbreak and millions of dollars of damage in several states in the region. And once again a colossal public-policy blunder is being committed: the handing out of millions of taxpayer dollars in ...

Clinton’s State of Mind Address

by Sheldon Richman February 1, 1997

President Clinton tells the American people that the "era of big government is over" and that "government is not the solution," but considering what he had to say in his State of the Union Address, he surely does not believe it. Clinton's speech was little more than a laundry list of things ...

More Washington Gibberish

by Sheldon Richman September 1, 1996

That recent spike in gasoline prices provided more examples of the strange tongue spoken in the nation's capital. I call it Washington Gibberish. On the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota called the price increase a "crisis." Republican Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, sitting at his side, did not disagree. He joined Dorgan in calling ...

Washington Gibberish

by Sheldon Richman January 1, 1996

If English is ever declared the official language of the United States, the biggest upheaval will be in Washington, D.C. That's because they don't speak English in Washington. They speak gibberish. You may not realize that, because gibberish has the same-sounding words and grammatical structure as English. When you hear gibberish, you think you're hearing English. But you're not. ...

Income Taxation

by Gerald F. Scully August 1, 1995

In 1913, the minimum marginal tax rate was 1 percent on income of $300,000 or more (measured in 1993 dollars). The top marginal tax rate was 7 percent on income above $7.5 million. Very few people had incomes that met the filing requirement. As a fraction of the ...