Taxes are a contentious issue, the debate over which often generates more heat than light. Disagreements over taxes cause people on both sides of the political divide pitch to make snide remarks. Most of the debate over taxes among economists is, fortunately, relatively civil and productive. There is a good reason for relative civility: Economists have arrived at some generally accepted propositions about the effects of taxes on economic conditions.

Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics 19, no. 2 (Summer 2016)

The recent financial crisis of 2007–2008 generated a debate among economists over whether the leading central banks’ unprecedented monetary intervention would spark a massive inflation and depreciation of currencies in the near future.

Descriptive terms which people use are often quite misleading. In talking about modem captains of industry and leaders of big business, for instance, they call a man a “chocolate king” or a “cotton king” or an “automobile king.” Their use of such terminology implies that they see practically no difference between the modern heads of industry and those feudal kings, dukes or lords of earlier days. But the difference is in fact very great, for a chocolate king does not rule at all, he serves.