Taxation

Feeling Helpless Against the IRS?

by Laurence M. Vance September 1, 2017

Although I enjoy looking at billboards on road trips because it breaks the monotony, I don’t pay too much attention to them when I am driving around town. However, one recently caught my eye because it had to do with something I frequently write about: taxes. The billboard said, “Feeling Helpless Against the IRS?” Since I don’t like handing my ...

The Libertarian Angle: Freedom and the Income Tax

by Future of Freedom Foundation May 3, 2017

FFF president Jacob Hornberger and Richard Ebeling discuss the morality of taxation. Go to the podcast.

The Seasonal Republican Welfare Program

by Laurence M. Vance February 23, 2017

The period from about the last week in February to the end of March is like a second Christmas season for some businesses. It is the time when millions of Americans receive their income tax refunds and suddenly have extra hundreds, and even thousands, of dollars to spend. But all tax refunds are not created equal. Many Americans will ...

Abolish the Corporate Income Tax

by Laurence M. Vance September 22, 2016

The European Commission last month ordered Ireland to collect $14.5 billion in unpaid corporate taxes from the U.S. company Apple. Europe’s competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, who has made tax avoidance a central focus, said that “Apple’s illegal deals with the Irish government allowed the technology giant to pay virtually nothing on its European business in some years.” It ...

Getting It Backwards on Welfare and Tax Deductions

by Laurence M. Vance June 23, 2016

Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) is “sick and tired, and sick and tired of being sick and tired, of the criminalization of poverty.” She explains in a recent press release, As a strong advocate for social programs aimed at combating poverty, it deeply offends me that there is such a deep stigma surrounding those who depend on government ...

The Libertarian Angle: Abolish the Income Tax

by Future of Freedom Foundation April 21, 2016

In this segment, Richard Ebeling and Jacob Hornberger explore the evil that is the income tax. Go to the podcast.

Fleecing the American Taxpayer: The Profit Incentives Driving the Police State

by John W. Whitehead April 14, 2016

“The Founding Fathers never intended a nation where citizens would pay nearly half of everything they earn to the government.” ― Ron Paul If there is an absolute maxim by which the federal government seems to operate, it is that the American taxpayer always gets ripped off. This is true whether you’re talking about taxpayers being forced to fund ...

The Clinton-Sanders-Republican Principles of Taxation

by Laurence M. Vance February 5, 2016

The number of votes they got at the recent Iowa caucuses is not the only way that former senator Hillary Clinton and current senator Bernie Sanders are very close. Both have proposed new government programs throughout their campaigns. And because their new government programs must be paid for, both Clinton and Sanders have put forward new tax plans to ...

The Fatal Flaw

by Laurence M. Vance February 1, 2016

The presidential primary season is in full swing. Current and former Democratic and Republican candidates alike have put forward various tax-reform proposals. Some of their proposals were officially unveiled at a press conference; others were unofficially presented in campaign speeches or during one of the debates. Some rehash old proposals, others recommend something entirely new. But whether Democratic, Republican, ...

Tax Freedom Requires Adherence to the “Let-Alone” Principle

by Richard M. Ebeling April 13, 2015

April 15th is the day that every American is expected to have filed their federal income tax form. Some of us may have done it long before the deadline, some of us will wait until just before the stroke of midnight on April 15th, and some of us may be filing for extensions to defer the actual submission of ...

The Libertarian Angle: IRS Thievery

by Future of Freedom Foundation November 3, 2014

  FFF president Jacob Hornberger and FFF vice president Sheldon Richman discuss the hot topics of the day. This week: how the IRS steals from the citizenry. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly. Go to the podcast.

Abolish the Income Tax and IRS

by Sheldon Richman October 28, 2014

For some time now we’ve lived with the scourge of civil asset forfeiture, under which the police can seize a person’s property on the mere suspicion it was used in a crime and without having to charge the owner with an offense. Since the authorities have no burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the burden of proving ...