As published in the Winter Park/Maitland Observer, Thursday Jan. 3, 2012 Edition Offers... Read More »
Articles in category 'The Economy'
Message to 99 Percenters: Stop Watching TV and Playing Video Games
Economist Robert Frank writing for the Wall Street Journal Wealth Report asks Do the Wealthy Work Harder Than the Rest?: One of the most controversial issues surrounding inequality is work effort. Some on the right argue that top earners are successful in part because they work harder than others. Many on the left argue that …
Read Full Article Categorized in: The EconomyMark Cuban: Increase in Corporate Net Profits through Tax Reduction Doesn’t Create Jobs
Mark Cuban is a billionaire and a very smart guy, but his opinion that reducing corporate taxes does not create jobs is off the mark: Companies hire because they need people to compete and keep customers happy, not because of lower tax rates … . Bottom line is that while CEOs of public companies and financial engineers…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Corporate Tax, The EconomyLow Tax, Non-Union Red States Outperform High Tax, Union Blue States
Don’t tell the propagandists of the pro-tax, pro-union, pro-big government crowd this but the red states (you know, the ones with all of those toothless conservative rednecks in them), and their low tax, pro-business policies regularly out-perform the blue states and their high tax, pro-union policies. John Hinderaker of PowerLine has the story (emphasis added): Today, we have…
Read Full Article Categorized in: News, State Taxes, The EconomyMessage to 99% of Americans: The Top 1% Pay 37% of Federal Income Taxes
Kiplinger has a neat little widget that tells you where you stand as an income earner relative to other taxpayers. Here is the entry for someone with $350,000 of adjusted gross income: Your $350,000 adjusted gross income (AGI) puts you in the top 1% of earners. The top-earning 1% of taxpayers reported 16.93% of all…
Read Full Article Categorized in: News, Tax Policy, The EconomyRafael Nadal to Skip Wimbledon Warm-Up Event to Avoid Taxes
WebCPA reports that tennis player Rafael Nadal will not play in the traditional Wimbledon tennis tournament warm-up event next year because of stringent British tax laws: The No. 2-ranked Spanish tennis player said Thursday he can “lose money” playing in the Queen’s Club tournament because of the tax laws that affect athletes, musicians and actors.…
Read Full Article Categorized in: News, Tax Policy, The EconomyLetting Markets Do What Markets Do
I have been reading Thomas Sowell‘s classic textbook Basic Economics in which he makes many wise observations, including this one: The fact that the market is not doing what we wish it would do is no reason to automatically assume that the government would do better. CNN.Money reports that Sen. Dick Durbin has “urged customers unhappy…
Read Full Article Categorized in: News, The EconomyHilarious Video: Wall Street Protester Demands to be Arrested
A wall street protester named Robert Stephens – we know he spells it with a “ph” and not a “v” because he hilariously pauses his passionate protest to make sure that the press knows how to spell his name - demands to be arrested because “the bank took my parents’ home.” This is how I behaved when I was…
Read Full Article Categorized in: News, Satire, The EconomyLower Capital Gains Rates Stimulate Investment
I found a very revealing table published by Stephen Moore over at the Library of Economics and Liberty which seems to show a direct correlation between the reduction in capital gains tax rates and the amount of capital invested by venture capitalists. Here’s Moore and his table: Significantly, the massive technology boom of the late 1990s…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Tax Policy, The EconomyThe Ethics of “Walking Away” from Your Mortgage
Tim Manni of HSH.com tells us why a homeowner who has the ability to pay his mortgage might choose to walk away from it: Why does a homeowner simply decide to walk away from their home, their mortgage? If you’ve ever been curious to how a homeowner comes to that decision, you’ll want to read…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Opinion, The Economy62% of Taxpayers Say Increased Taxes Will Not go to Deficit Reduction
According to a Reason-Rupe Poll nearly 69 percent of taxpayers expect their taxes to go up in the next five years and 62 percent think Congress will spend tax increases on new programs instead of paying down debt i.e. the government will use the new money to expand government rather than pay down the deficit. We’ve…
Read Full Article Categorized in: News, The EconomyA Return to 70% Top Tax Rates?
Senior Fellow of Stanford’s The Hoover Institution, Michael Boskin, writing for the Wall Street Journal says that we should Get Ready for a 70% Marginal Tax Rate (emphasis is mine): President Obama has been using the debt-ceiling debate and bipartisan calls for deficit reduction to demand higher taxes. With unemployment stuck at 9.2% and a vigorous economic…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Tax Policy, The EconomyHigh Taxes Scare Rich People Away
And when rich people leave, there is less tax revenue. Tim Worstall of adamsmith.org on wealth flight (emphasis is mine): We keep trying to tell the lefties this, that people really will move out of a tax area to escape high tax rates. The usual response rarely rises above “Yah, Boo, Sucks, so what?”. And of course…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Tax Policy, The EconomyTreasury Secretary Tim Geithner Says Raise Taxes on Small Businesses Rather Than Cut Entitlements
CNS News reports that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner wants to raise taxes on small businesses rather than cut entitlement programs: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told the House Small Business Committee on Wednesday that the Obama administration believes taxes on small business must increase so the administration does not have to “shrink the overall size of government programs.” The administration’s plan…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Tax Policy, The EconomyCalifornia Leaving
Mark Perry of Carpe Diem reports that California businessmen are fleeing the state in droves: California currently ranks #49 among U.S. states for “business tax climate” (Tax Foundation) and #48 for for “economic freedom” (Mercatus). It shouldn’t be any surprise then that companies are leaving the “Golden State” in record numbers this year (see chart above)…
Read Full Article Categorized in: News, State Taxes, The EconomyFlorida Increases Corporate Tax Exemption: Will it Create Jobs?
Joseph Henchman reports in Florida Increases Corporate Income Tax Exemptions, Debates Repeal: Florida’s government has a $69 billion annual budget, and about $2 billion of that comes from the state corporate income tax. Enacted in 1971, that tax currently stands at a rate of 5.5 percent. Governor Rick Scott (R) took office this year and has…
Read Full Article Categorized in: State Taxes, Tax Policy, The Economy