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 ...
Surplus Balderdash by Sheldon Richman August 1, 1999 The projected budget surpluses are useful in revealing the political philosophies of Democrats and Republicans. The Democrats hold that lowering taxes in light of the surpluses constitutes a form of government spending and should be judged against other ways government could spend the money. That approach implies that government ...
Scamming the Poor by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 1999 One of the biggest scams in American politics is the bromide that government officials use to justify America's paternalistic welfare state and the federal income tax: "We love the poor, the needy, and the disadvantaged." The primary victims of the scam are the poor themselves. Let's look at a few examples. The minimum-wage ...
Tax-Cut Deceptions by Sheldon Richman May 1, 1999 The Republican collapse on taxes is about as surprising as an elephant's fleeing a mouse, which, come to think of it, may be exactly what happened. It looked as though the congressional Republicans were going to make a 10 percent across-the-board unconditional tax-rate cut the centerpiece of their agenda. It was supposed to contrast with the Clinton administration's insistence that ...