Tax compliance employs more workers than Wal-Mart, UPS, McDonald’s, IBM and Citigroup combined. There is a lot more to taxes than simply paying the bill. Taxpayers must spend significantly more than $1 in order to provide $1 of income-tax revenue to the federal government. To start with,...

The U.S. income tax system relies on taxpayers to self-report their income – the system only works if most taxpayers view the outcomes as fair and accurately self-report their income. As such, excessive tax complexity is undermining the very foundations of our current tax code....

For now: Extend the Bush tax cuts, repeal ObamaCare, support free trade. After 2012: Enact a flat tax, stabilize prices, balance the budget, give politicians incentive pay. The Wall Street Journal 11/11/2010 Since its cyclical zenith in December 2007, U.S. economic production has been on its worst...

Government’s increasing role as a regulator and payor for health care services has resulted in a large and growing government health care wedge—an economic separation of effort from reward, of consumers (patients) from producers (health care providers).  Rising government expenditures for health care are the...

A 0% tax on carousing, but 55% on thrift. April 2, 2009 By ARTHUR B. LAFFER In most cases, people who inherit wealth are lucky by an accident of birth and really don’t “deserve” their inheritance any more than people who don’t inherit wealth. After all, few of...

A sound tax system is simple to understand, not overly costly to implement, and minimizes economic distortions.  Compared to other state, Texas’ current tax system is sound, but it can be improved by repealing property taxes and replacing the revenues with a reformed sales tax. Download...

Federal spending comes with costs and should not be accepted as the “free lunch” it is frequently considered to be.  As states consider whether to accept federal stimulus funds, this paper examines the cost of  those federal funds and argues that an increase in the...