The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design. - F.A. Hayek
Posted in Paternalism, Socialism, Taxation on Jul 1st, 2008
From a conversation between Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, Buffett remarks:
what if you had three percent or something like that of the corporate income tax totally devoted to a fund that would be administered by some representatives of corporate America to be used in intelligent ways for the long-term benefit of society, This group-who think […]
Posted in Taxation on Jun 25th, 2008
I went to the post office today for the first time in a long time and I purchased a pile of “Forever Stamps.” These are stamps that cost 42 cents each today, but will remain valid first-class postage on all qualifying mailings regardless of what postage rates might be in the future. Two things about […]
Posted in Taxation on Jun 11th, 2008
Suppose my wife and I owned a plot of land. On our land we harvested timber, grew our own food, processed our own food, made our own clothes, and fashioned our own tools.
Posted in Taxation on Apr 1st, 2008
A look at where your tax dollars go.
Posted in Fun Facts, Taxation, Unintended Consequences on Mar 17th, 2008
Rhetoric wins the day over reality. Here are two facts I stumbled upon recently:
Posted in Taxation on Mar 5th, 2008
Effective tax rates on the households in the middle of the income distribution (40th to 60th percentiles) have fallen substantially since 2001 and even more since 1981. Income, payroll and excise taxes now take up 14.2% of income, down from 16.6% of income in 2001 and 19.2% in 1981.
My two cents:
Couple this trend with the fact […]
Posted in Economic Illiteracy, Taxation on Mar 4th, 2008
In the majority of States, benefit funding is based solely on a tax imposed on employers. (emphasis original)
That is from the Department of Labor discussion of state unemployment insurance programs. Or they can read this … or this … or this … By a legal definition they might be right, but isn’t that statement fraudulent and […]
Posted in Taxation, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Feb 4th, 2008
An old student asked me a simple question regarding tax incidence and it got me to thinking …
Let’s talk about payroll and income taxes. The economic incidence (who actually bears the burden of a tax) is a function of the elasticity of demand for labor (with respect to wages - actually, total compensation including non-pecuniary […]
Posted in Taxation on Dec 16th, 2007
Conventional wisdom has it that the average worker is being woefully exploited by her capitalist employers. Labor economic analysis aside here, is it in the interest of typical workers to have government mandate higher wages and benefits to be paid by employers and to secure all manner of regulations which on their face works in […]
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