Homines libenter quod volunt credunt
Posted in ethical foundations, Inequality, Taxation on Apr 24th, 2014
He just wants to fix it. No comments from this peanut gallery. But Scott Sumner hits a 600 foot homer, do read the whole thing: Here’s what Yglesias misses. Unequal consumption matters because of opportunity cost—another bedrock of economics. The resources that went into that $200 million yacht could have produced lots of other goodies […]
Posted in Economists, History, Macroeconomics, Taxation on Apr 20th, 2014
Readers who are following the adulation of Thomas Picketty’s Capital in the 21st Century do not need much information about the book. One major theme of the book is that if the rate of return on “capital” exceeds the overall rate of return in the entire economy, then it follows that the rich and elderly gain in […]
Posted in Government Gone Wild, Government Thuggery, Public Choice, Taxation on Apr 15th, 2014
Let me offer a few simple, cranky, thoughts on taxes today. (1) I like to believe I am not the dumbest person on the planet. I also happen to be a professional economist. And I have absolutely NO IDEA going into the year how much in tax obligations I owe to the government at all […]
Posted in If I Really Hated the Poor ..., incentives, labor markets, Taxation on Apr 1st, 2014
That would be people like my wife who continue to work. Here is how her income is taxed: Federal tax rate of 28% (her wage puts us in this bracket) State tax rate of 6.5% Social security – her “share is 7.65%, her employer pays 7.65%, but since we know that the incidence of this […]
Posted in Central Planning, ethical foundations, Taxation, Voluntary Society, Welfare State on Mar 17th, 2014
It is typically asserted that on utilitarian grounds we can and should redistribute wealth from the richer to the poorer. On its face and all-alone the argument makes some sense. The argument goes like this: since there is diminishing marginal utility of wealth, a dollar to a rich person is worth less than a dollar […]
Posted in Taxation on Dec 26th, 2013
One often hears the claim that, “top marginal tax rates were once 90% and the US grew like gangbusters.” One may have also heard the expression, “the optimal top marginal tax rate is 70%.” With regard to the first claim – let’s ignore the macroeconometric problems with making such assertions. We can also ignore the […]
Posted in Central Planning, Economic Illiteracy, Taxation on Dec 15th, 2013
Let’s tax corporations more. After all, they have plenty of profits. OK, I agree. Then I hope you all get on board with the following proposal. Let’s impose a 10% tax on all “schools’” revenues. After all, schools, especially places like where I work, take in BILLIONS of dollars of revenue. They employ and they […]
Posted in Economic Illiteracy, Economics Problems, Economists, Inequality, Price Controls, Taxation on Dec 14th, 2013
Try this on for size: Evidence indicates that the price elasticity of demand for labor is quite high, at least 3. That is, an increase in average wages of 1% would lead to at least a 3% decline in the number of hours of work demanded by employers. Labor economists believe, however, that the price […]
Posted in Central Planning, Public Choice, Taxation on Dec 10th, 2013
Well, among the many reasons that I no longer favor it is that I’ve started to realize I live in big boy world, and not the fantasy world of good economics I thought about when I first became a professor: Schuerhoff, Marianne, David Zetland and Hans-Peter Weikard (2013). “The life and death of the Dutch […]
Posted in Central Planning, Economic Illiteracy, Fun Facts, Taxation on Dec 5th, 2013
from Tim Taylor. Here are some older thoughts on mine on taxing the rich more. And here.
