Fiscal Theory

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development says it wants to eliminate tax havens because their practices are harmful, if not criminal. What it really wants is to eliminate tax competition.

By subsidizing sports facilities, governments are taxing average people and boosting the incomes of some very wealthy individuals. What justification exists for this practice?

The Hirohito gold coin was fixed at a very high legal-tender value in terms of yen. Then the price of gold fell.

Tax protestors prevailed and stopped a new tax. Some lawmakers called it "mob rule," but it was really just state taxpayers trying to preserve liberty.

Contrary to popular belief, interest rates have nothing to do with money. The attempt to manipulate interest via the money supply can only cause distortions. 

The Alternative Minimum Tax was supposed to soak the rich. Predictably, it is now poised to soak huge swaths of the middle class.

Tax cuts are always a joy. But let's dispense with the fiction that they constitute an economic stimulus. For that, we need an increase of savings and dramatic spending cuts.

Bush's tax cut means that a small amount of money will escape the clutches of our ruling class, but it is no great triumph for our liberty or our wallets.

In choosing whether tax cuts should be big or small, will the U.S. follow the path of Germany's Ludwig Erhard or of the socialists in Britain? Gregory Bresiger explains what's at issue.

Tax cuts are great, but there is a missing element in Bush's budget: any attempt to cut outlays. New spending must be paid for somehow, someday, writes Frank Shostak.