Kill the Death Tax by Sheldon Richman March 1, 2001 Are we supposed to be impressed that some of the country’s richest men want the government to continue taxing estates? I don’t see why their opinion on this matter is worth more than that of anyone else. After all, just because someone is good at making money, that doesn’t make ...
The IRS: Still a Grave Threat to Freedom by James Bovard February 1, 2001 THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION just succeeded in brow-beating Congress into giving the Internal Revenue Service one of the largest budget increases in the agency’s history. Clintonites had warned that, without a windfall for the revenuers, America was at grave risk of insufficient tax audits. Clinton persuaded much of the media ...
Repeal the Income Tax by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2001 Defending his tax-cut proposal last night, President Bush said, "Unrestrained government spending is a dangerous road to deficits, so we must take a different path. Let the American people spend their own money to meet their own needs, to fund their own priorities, and pay down their own debts." What ...
The Marc Rich Pardon by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 2001 "Everybody's upset with former President Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich, the financier who had been indicted by a New York grand jury under former U.S. Attorney Rudy Guliani for buying and selling oil at the wrong price and with the wrong country and for not paying taxes on the profits. Okay, ...
Bring Back the Deficit! by Sheldon Richman January 1, 2001 Should we cut taxes or should we pay off the national debt? What’s missing from this picture? Aside from the fact that paying off the debt need not be a priority (there is no connection between the debt and economic growth), the question is a classic case of the Fallacy of ...
Wishing You a Free and Merry Christmas by Doug Bandow December 1, 2000 CHRISTMAS IS THE TIME of goodwill, when everyone thinks of giving. And giving their own money, not other people’s money. Even in Washington, D.C. But in Washington, at least, Christmas is probably the only time of the year when anyone thinks about spending his own money.
The $9 Trillion Federal Budget by Sheldon Richman October 1, 2000 George Bush would spend more on a tax cut for the wealthiest 1 percent than he would spend on Social Security, health care, education, and the armed forces combined. Vice President Al Gore said that, or something like it, hundreds of times in the debates and on the campaign stump. Just once I’d like to see Governor Bush say to ...
Where Is Freedom in the Income-Tax Debate? by Jacob G. Hornberger September 1, 2000 The debate over income-tax cuts between George W. Bush and Al Gore reflects how far Americans have plunged in their understanding of what it means to be free. If elected president, Bush proposes to cut income taxes by $1.3 trillion. Gore is calling the plan "a tax cut for the rich" ...
Who’s Negative? by Sheldon Richman September 1, 2000 Why is it considered negative campaigning to say, “My opponent has a credibility problem,” but it is not negative to say, “We’re for the people; they’re for the powerful”? According to virtually all mainstream observers, the first is ...
The Real Surplus by Sheldon Richman September 1, 2000 Gov. George W. Bush has a presidential campaign slogan that says: "The surplus isn't the government's money. It's the people's money." What about the other nearly $2 trillion the government takes from productive American citizens? Judging from the governor's campaign, that must be the government's money because the people aren't ...
Crime Creation by Richard O. Rowland August 1, 2000 THE HAWAII TAX on cigarettes is the highest in the nation; $1 per package, $10 per carton. That’s after the federal government applies its tax. If you want to display your protest to a mindless drivel of government laws and rules, one way to do it is to smoke. So, cigarette smoking is appealing to teenagers, many of whom are ...
Kill the Estate Tax by Sheldon Richman June 1, 2000 Alas, the bill moving through Congress that purports to repeal the estate tax is more valuable for what it reveals about its opponents than for what it would accomplish. The big-government lobby is up in arms about a Republican-sponsored bill, ...