Taxes
July 31, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Why did one of Britain’s leading advocates for Brexit leave the U.K. to head up a policy organization in Mississippi? Douglas Carswell explains in the Telegraph: You might be surprised to learn that Mississippi, the poorest state in the US, is now wealthier than Britain. Mississippi’s GDP per capita last year was $47,190, slightly above the UK’s approximately $45,000, though still well below the overall American average of $70,000. While
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July 22, 2023 — John Hinderaker
I suppose America’s work ethic peaked in the late 19th century and has declined somewhat since then. Still, compared with Europeans, Americans are considered hard-working. Thus the Telegraph headlines: “How hard-working US is getting rich while the UK struggles on benefits.” The world’s biggest economy has pulled ahead of the UK and the rest of Europe on an array of economic measures since the financial crisis of 2008. What began
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May 23, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Two sets of current poll data are of interest. First, Americans hate the news media. Nothing new here, but if anything the feeling has intensified. Good. Rasmussen reports: The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that just 30% of Likely U.S. voters say they trust the political news they’re getting – down from 37% in July 2021 – while 52% say they don’t trust political news, and
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May 17, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Electing Lori Lightfoot as Mayor of Chicago was the beginning of the end for that city. Replacing her with someone even more far left is accelerating Chicago’s terminal decline. Tom Bevan notes that the death throes are under way: Progressive allies of Mayor Brandon Johnson have released a financial blueprint titled – and I'm not joking – "First We Get the Money" calling for $12 billion in new taxes, including:
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May 1, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Not so long ago, American leftists held up the Scandinavian countries, especially Sweden, as exemplars of left-wing success. But times have changed. First, Sweden took a right turn away from its former, almost-socialist policies. (Although, to be fair, Swedish officials always bristled at the suggestion that their country was socialist, or anything like it.) Next, Sweden opted for freedom during the covid epidemic. As always, freedom was anathema to American
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April 27, 2023 — Scott Johnson
The Supreme Court heard the case of Geraldine Tyler v. Hennepin County yesterday. C-SPAN has posted audio of oral argument in the Supreme Court here. The Eighth Circuit decision in the case — the one that the Supreme Court accepted for review — is posted online here. Hennepin County consists mostly of the sinkhole of Minneapolis. It is the sinkhole in our back yard, and yet we haven’t gotten around
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April 22, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Most rich people who take part in politics are on the Left, which is a major reason why the Democratic Party and its candidates consistently have so much more money than the Republican Party and its candidates. I have long been bemused by rich liberals like Warren Buffett, who tell us their tax rates are too low. Really? Guess what: the IRS will cash your check! If you seriously think
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April 11, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Here in the U.S., we sometimes hear calls for a new tax on wealth, rather than income. What better way to make rich people pay more? But of course, this is not a new idea. Wealth taxes have been abandoned by most developed countries. Charlotte Gifford writes, in the Telegraph: In 1990, 12 OECD countries, all in Europe, levied wealth taxes. However, most of them repealed these in the 1990s
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March 20, 2023 — Scott Johnson
The state of Minnesota overtaxed us by $17 billion in the last biennium and is sitting on the surplus. The funds should be returned on a pro rata basis to those of us who were compelled to fork over the dough, but that’s not what state Democrats have in mind, even when they couch their proposals in the language of “rebates.” That much I can tell you. The Star Tribune
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March 20, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Nicholas Meyer had Sherlock Holmes overcoming The Seven-Per-Cent Solution. Last week President Biden fabricated the billionaires’ three percent solution to the federal income tax burden. Citing an incredibly misleading release from the Biden administration, I found Biden’s three percent solution to be “Biden’s lie of the day.” Elon Musk has now responded to Biden’s lie of the day on Twitter and readers “have added context they thought people might want
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March 16, 2023 — Scott Johnson
President Biden is a pathological liar. His account of the epiphany that led him to support gay marriage is only the most recent example, though it was classic and blatant. Indeed, it was so blatant as to be laughable. I have a high level of confidence that Biden lies every time he speaks in public. Take yesterday’s Remarks on Lowering Prescription Drugs Costs in Las Vegas — please. It is
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January 28, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Now that Democrats control Minnesota’s political branches, they are in let’s go crazy mode. I’ve lived here all my life. I don’t want to let them drive me out, but they are doing their best. I want to take my stand and go down fighting. Besides, I’m afraid Florida is so overpopulated that it will detach and capsize. The state overcharged taxpayers in the last biennium by some $18 billion.
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January 10, 2023 — John Hinderaker
The Fair Tax has been a staple in conservative circles for quite a few years. It is a national sales tax that is intended to replace the income tax. There is much to be said for the Fair Tax: as a tax on consumption, it would encourage saving and investment. It is relatively easy to administer; nearly all states already have a sales tax. And it would allow us to
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December 23, 2022 — John Hinderaker
Everyone knows that people are abandoning blue states like California and New York and moving to red states like Florida and Texas. The same phenomenon is at work in smaller states–on a reduced scale, but the pattern is consistent. Take my home state, Minnesota. For the last seven years, my organization has been documenting the net outflow of residents, and especially taxpayers, from the state. This year, that net outmigration
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December 12, 2022 — John Hinderaker
The fact that people are steadily moving away from blue states and into red states is well known. Still, I thought these figures from New York were shocking: A new city analysis shows that a huge chunk of high-income earners fled in 2020. … The study by the city’s Independent Budget Office shows a 10% plunge in taxpayers who made over $750,000, and 6% of those with incomes between $150,000
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September 24, 2022 — John Hinderaker
British Prime Minister Liz Truss is going big. Her Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, has unveiled an aggressive program of permanent tax cuts. The Wall Street Journal likes the plan: Mr. Kwarteng axed the 2.5-percentage-point increase in the payroll tax imposed by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and canceled a planned increase in the corporate income tax rate to 26% from 19%. … Kwarteng also surprised by eliminating the 45% tax rate
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April 22, 2022 — John Hinderaker
If you live within driving distance of the Twin Cities, tomorrow is the day to descend on the state Capitol in St. Paul to demand that the legislature return Minnesota’s projected $9.3 billion surplus to the taxpayers, in the form of permanent tax cuts. The rally will start at 11 a.m.; because of the threat of thunderstorms, we will be inside, in the Capitol rotunda. I will emcee the event,
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