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TAX POLITIX

The Politics of Taxes

The Amy Wax Affair

The continued maltreatment of Amy Wax at UPenn is egregious and unacceptable. Ted Ruger, Dean of the UPenn Carey Law School, has consistently mismanaged the entire affair; his recent change in policy effectively abandoned his prior stance that upheld the right for faculty to express their views buckling under pressure from students who clearly do not understand the concept of freedom of expression. UPenn certainly doesn’t seem to be doing its job these days. Wax’s “crime” of expressing...

Like Xi, Like Biden

As Biden’s presidency continues, it’s become increasingly apparent that he is wholly . unconcerned about the economic wellbeing of our citizens. But what’s less apparent to most people is that he’s taking his cues straight from China’s president, Xi Jinping. Over the last year, Xi has been targeting wealthy Chinese billionaires, such as Alibaba, for being too successful or not being as aligned with his Communist platform. Using tactics such as increasing regulation or restricting their...

IRS Audits Don’t Target the Poor

Mike Hiltzik’ s article, “Proof the IRS targets the poor for tax audits while leaving millionaires alone” is either economically ignorant or intentionally misleading. He asserts that the IRS disproportionately audits lower income households for some biased reason, but that is simply not the case. Hiltzik takes his data from a non-profit called TRAC which reviews IRS reports that are generated as part of an ongoing FOIA request.Hiltzik ignores the fact that the IRS audits taxpayers based upon...

Why Your Electric Bill is Actually Soaring

Katherine Blunt's WSJ article, "Why Your Electric Bill is Soaring -- And Likely To Go Higher" absolutely ignores (or just possibly misses) that soaring gas prices are caused as much by Biden production restriction policies nationally. They are further exacerbated by policies like the New York State pipeline and fracking prohibitions just as much as they are by recent Ukraine issues. She should know that gas prices (unlike oil) are a local, not global market. Furthermore, most of New York...

When Science Research Isn’t

Recently, a young PhD student came to terms with the fact that academia was no longer based on merit. Rather, as a scientific researcher interested in procuring grant funding, he was dismayed to learn that certain terms such as “equity,” “diversity,” and “inclusion” were not only social goals, but now also scientific ones; in other words, they were increasingly being used in descriptions of actual scientific work. The National Science Foundation (NSF) awards millions in grants each year and...

Calculating the True Cost of Raising Revenue

It’s kind of disgusting that when Congress talks about raising tax revenue, all the CBO thinks about and includes in their analyses is gross revenue. They don’t think about the costs of what the IRS, agencies, businesses, and taxpayers need to do to implement the policies that were created in order to raise that revenue. Those costs should always be factored in the computation and subsequently deducted to arrive at net revenue raised.. What’s happening now is that the compliance costs are not...

The “Fair Share” Myth

Have you ever heard any progressive who claims that the wealthy are not paying their “fair share” actually say what fair share is? Neither have I. It is probably because the wealthy in the US already pay a far higher percentage of income taxes than in any other developed country. Therefore, anyone who says the wealthy are not paying their fair share is either being a hypocrite or lying. However, there is a group that is  absolutely not paying their fair share. These are the vast number of...

State Should Give Capital Gains Breaks

Capital gains are the profits realized from the sale of an asset and are included as part of  taxable income. A handful of states have favorable rates toward capital gains (or don’t tax them at all because they do not have an income tax).  Other states tax capital gains as ordinary income. Among the most offensive states are NY, NJ, and CA. These states have concentrations of high income individuals and businesses who pay tax at high state tax rates. And they give no rate reduction...

Did George Floyd’s Killing Have Anything to Do With Racism?

Whenever anyone talks about George Floyd, we are immediately reminded that he was a black man unjustly killed by a white policeman and that he is now a symbol of racial justice.  The problem is that racism was not even a factor in Floyd’s death -- but you won’t ever hear about it.  This past April, the Attorney General for Minnesota, Keith Ellison, declined to pursue a hate crime charge against Derek Chauvin. During a CBS News interview when Ellison was asked on the matter, he...

Biden Should Not Be Modeling FDR

How is it that serious economists and lawmakers want to follow FDR’s economic policies as some sort of model to follow? People who want to revive his ideas are absolutely insane. FDR took a recession that was ending (it was already four years old when he took office in 1933) and he single-handedly created the longest depression in the history of the United States that virtually lasted ten full years! Furthermore, the only reason it ended was not anything FDR did, but it was economic growth...

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