Taxation « Sago

Four Reasons to Applaud Apple’s Tax Planning

By DanielJMitchell, on May 21st, 2013

The Senate is holding a Kangaroo Court designed to smear Apple for not voluntarily coughing up more tax revenue than the company actually owes. Here are four things you need to know. Apple is fully complying with the tax law. There is no suggestion that Apple has done anything illegal. The company is being berated […] . . . → Read More: Four Reasons to Applaud Apple’s Tax Planning

Question of the Week: Quit Dodging the Issue and Tell Us the Revenue-Maximizing Point on the Laffer Curve

By DanielJMitchell, on May 19th, 2013

I feel like I’m on the witness stand and I’m being badgered by a hostile lawyers. Readers keep asking me to identify the revenue-maximizing point on the Laffer Curve. But I don’t like that question. In the past, I’ve explained that the growth-maximizing point on the Laffer Curve is where enough revenue is raised to […] . . . → Read More: Question of the Week: Quit Dodging the Issue and Tell Us the Revenue-Maximizing Point on the Laffer Curve

OECD Study Admits Income Taxes Penalize Growth, Acknowledges that Tax Competition Restrains Excessive Government

By DanielJMitchell, on May 17th, 2013

I have to start this post with a big caveat. I’m not a fan of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The international bureaucracy is infamous for using American tax dollars to promote a statist economic agenda. Most recently, it launched a new scheme to raise the tax burden on multinational companies, which […] . . . → Read More: OECD Study Admits Income Taxes Penalize Growth, Acknowledges that Tax Competition Restrains Excessive Government

Great Moments in Government: The IRS Apologizes for Bias while Simultaneously Denying Bias

By DanielJMitchell, on May 10th, 2013

I’m happy to bash the IRS, but I usually try to explain that our anger should be focused on the politicians who created the corrupt, 74,000-page tax code. But sometimes the IRS deserves some negative attention. The tax collection bureaucracy has thieving employees, incompetent employees, thuggish employees, brainless employees, and victimizing employees. The senior folks […] . . . → Read More: Great Moments in Government: The IRS Apologizes for Bias while Simultaneously Denying Bias

The Strangest Tax Loophole Award

By DanielJMitchell, on May 9th, 2013

I have a love-hate relationship with tax loopholes. I’m a big fan of the flat tax, in part because I hate when powerful interest groups use their insider connections to get special treatment. This corrupt process helps explain why the tax code is now a 74,000-page monstrosity. I want to get rid of all preferences, […] . . . → Read More: The Strangest Tax Loophole Award

Why the So-Called Marketplace Fairness Act Is a Misguided Expansion of Power for State Governments

By DanielJMitchell, on May 7th, 2013

I’m either a total optimist or a glutton for punishment. I recently explained the benefits of “tax havens” for the unfriendly readers of the New York Times. Now I’m defending a different form of tax competition for CNN, another news outlet that leans left. In this case, the topic is whether states can reach beyond [...] . . . → Read More: Why the So-Called Marketplace Fairness Act Is a Misguided Expansion of Power for State Governments

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