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The Thompson plan
Last week, Ironman over at Political Calculations reviewed the Giuliani income tax simplification plan. This week, he tackles the even more impressively simple tax simplification plan advocated by GOP Presidential candidate, Fred Thompson. Of course, as if on cue, Thompson...
What's missing in the tax debate
Wouldn't it be nice if at least one of the Presidential candidates would embrace the basic reform that is really needed in the U.S. tax system? Simply simplification. Previous posts on tax simplification issues are here. Interestingly, one of my...
Tax simplification made simple
One of the more distressing aspects of the Bush Administration's distractions is the abandonment of the movement toward income tax simplification. In this lucid EconTalk session, Alvin Rabushka of Stanford University's Hoover Institution lays out the case for the flat...
GOP cruising for a bruising?
I'm certainly no political prognosticator, but a couple of matters caught my eye over the past week or so that indicate to me that the Republican Party has become dangerously concerned with maintaining power rather than providing leadership. The first...
Income tax panel announces overhaul proposals
Income tax simplification is a recurring subject on this blog, so I took notice of this NY Times article regarding yesterday's announcement that President Bush's tax-overhaul panel had agreed to offer two alternatives to the present tax code -- one...
Bush = Carter?
The inimitable Professor Bainbridge is not happy with President Bush for a variety of valid reasons, and recently observed that the President may be becoming the Republican Party's equivalent of what former President Jimmy Carter has been for the Democratic...
Can the Republicans lead?
In this brilliant op-ed today, Wall Street Journal ($) editorial page editor Paul Gigot throws down the gauntlet and challenges the Republican Party to elevate substance over form and show that the party can lead America. In a stinging rebuke...
The politics of tax policy
This NY Times article reviews the growing consensus within the Bush Administration that something needs to be done with the federal government's absurdly complex and special interest-riddled income tax system. There is no real economic analysis of the alternatives here,...
On the politics of income taxes
Count me as one who is skeptical of John Kerry's position that soaking the rich with more income taxes is the way to relieve middle class tax rates and to reduce the federal government's deficit. Similarly, I am not particularly...
Observations on Bush's convention speech
Arnold Kling has this excellent analysis of President Bush's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. And Professor Maule has some insightful comments on the President's proposals regarding income tax simplification. Sigh....
More on tax simplification
Bob Formaini is a Senior Economist and Public Policy Advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. In this TCS Central column, Mr. Formaini addresses a fundamental absurdity of the income tax system in the United States: You might be...
Tax simplification
James Edward Maule is a professor of tax law at Villonova University School of Law who authors a blog in which he frequently opines on various issues relating to tax policy. Today, the issue is income tax simplification and he...
The ugly reality of consumer credit
This Wall Street Journal ($) article reports on how the consumer credit industry is generating huge profits by charging exorbitant interest rates and penalties on credit cards that the industry provides to the riskiest consumer borrowers: For consumers who pay...
This year's lousy tax bill
As noted in a post here several days ago, the 1986 Tax Bill was one of President Reagan's enduring accomplishments, not as much for the tax rate reduction as for the bill's bold move toward tax simplification. Using that bill...
Tax Day thoughts
This Journal Economic Committee report does a good job of concisely explaining the progressive nature of the United States' income tax system. The report contains this classic observation: Collectively, the bottom 40% of earners thus pays little or nothing in...
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