The income tax has become politically vulnerable. Some politicians have said we should replace it with a national sales tax. Yet, far from reducing the total tax burden, this would merely shift the burden around from individual filers to retailers.
The Republican Congress has had nine months to reduce taxes. Even one percent would be appreciated. Instead, we get convoluted plans that will be "revolutionary" at some point in the far-distant future. Enough of welfare reform. It's time to reform taxes.
Leave it to the federal government to generate sympathy, albeit inadvertently, for the richest man in the world. For five years, Bill Gates and Microsoft have been hounded by the Justice Department for engaging in "anticompetitive practices."
Left-liberals hate the idea, but the prosperity of everyone in a market economy depends in good part on the rich. The capital they have earned and saved generates investments and creates jobs. Their savings keep interest rates low. Their actions are philanthropic in every sense. In their professions, they help everyone prosper. In their charity, they help the poor, and allow the arts and education to thrive.
There is no reason for taxpayers to support trips to the moon, particle physics, or any other research not directly serving defense against external or internal aggression, the core function of government. Funds for basic research can be allocated by the market.
Just a few years ago we had a bicentennial celebration of the Constitution. Republicanism and federalism, the two most salient features of the Constitution, were never mentioned. Instead we had a glorification of multiculturalism and the central state.
We have the makings of a world central bank, thanks to the government officials from industrialized countries (the G-7) who met at Halifax, Nova Scotia, in June. U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, as usual, got just what he wanted.
The economy is again teetering on the brink of recession, and everyone's calling on the Fed to do something—anything!—to prevent another economic slump. But while the Fed has mastered the art of messing up the economy, it doesn't have the ability to stop the bad consequences of its own manipulative actions.
To understand the House Republicans' budget "revolution," pay careful attention to this number: $55 billion. That's the amount federal spending will increase next year. A year later, according to their plan, the budget ticks up another $38.1 billion. It goes up an average of $45 billion every year thereafter.
In the Clinton administration's spin control on the Mexican meltdown, Nafta had nothing to do with it. Without the treaty, matters would have been worse, the White House says, and now Nafta will help Mexico recover.
