The Free Market 26, no. 7 (July 2005) Did you have to write out a check to the IRS for $5,581 this past April 15? If you had to do such a thing next year, would you think of it as your civic duty or would you consider it a crime that only the government could get away with? A Typical Taxpayer This figure of $5,581 is not an arbitrary one.
I did something yesterday that I have not done in a very long time—I voted. No, I didn’t vote for a Republican or a Democrat. I voted against a tax. The state in which I live (Florida) has a sales tax rate of 6 percent. Each of the 67 counties in Florida has an option to add on a discretionary sales surtax. Only 9 counties have not done so. My
I attended a “Tax Day rally” today (Tuesday the 17th) here in Pensacola, Florida, sponsored by the local FairTax people. What was I, one who has written against the FairTax here , here , here , here , and here , doing at a FairTax rally? I received an e-mail from the “Community Coordinator for Americans for Fair Taxation” here in Pensacola. The
Actually, the headline reads: “Wal-Mart, Unions Unite on Health Care.” For years Wal-Mart has been falsely accused of shifting the cost of health care for its employees to taxpayers because the company’s high premiums and deductibles keep many Wal-Mart employees from participating in the company health plan—as if Wal-Mart is to blame for the
I should have known, but I just found out that another FairTax bill was introduced in Congress last month. John Linder (R-GA) introduced H.R. 25, “ The FairTax Act of 2007 ,” on the first day of the 110th Congress. There are 55 cosponsors. The numerous problems with this “permission-to-live” tax, as Murray Rothbard described consumption taxes, I
What do rental cars and sports stadiums have in common? Everything, if you live in Kansas City, Mo. According to an article titled “Tax Burden Heavy for Travelers” in the September issue of National Geographic Traveler magazine, “In 2005, the city decided to finance a stadium by tacking on a $4 per day surcharge to its already high taxes on car
The best tax is always the lightest. — Jean-Baptiste Say There cannot be a good tax nor a just one; every tax rests its case on compulsion. — Frank Chodorov There can be no such thing as “fairness in taxation.” Taxation is nothing but organized theft, and the concept of a “fair tax” is therefore every bit as absurd as that of “fair theft.” —
Tired of reading yours truly on evils of the FairTax? Here is Bruce Bartlett’s newest analysis of the tax that’s anything but fair: “ Why the FairTax Won’t Work .” Mr. Bartlett has written a very exhaustive and very thorough critique of the FairTax. Since presidential wannabe Mike Huckabee backs the FairTax, this issue is very relevant. Don’t be
A version of this review of Voucher Wars: Waging the Legal Battle over School Choice by Clint Bolick (Washington D.C.: Cato Institute, 2003) appeared in the Journal of Libertarian Studies 18.2 Voucher Wars: Waging the Legal Battle over School Choice is the story of the twelve-year legal battle for school choice that culminated in the 2002 Zelman
The Republicans are expanding the welfare state almost as much as they are increasing the warfare state. In a recent report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services , chief actuary Richard Foster predicts that the federal government will soon be paying for half the cost of all health care in the United States. A major contributing
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.