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  • Temporary Tax Rebates Do Not Stimulate Economic Growth

    The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently released a paper: Did the 2008 Tax Rebates Stimulate Short-term Growth? The paper is a comprehensive summary of the best recent literature on the topic. CBO sorts the literature into three categories: Studies that used detailed data about individual spending to study the effects … More

    IRS to Tax Employer-Provided Cell Phones

    The Obama Administration’s desperation for new revenue to feed its massive spending appetite is becoming more apparent every day. The latest tax hike proposal, this time from the IRS, is to tax 25 percent of the value of employer-provided cell phones or Blackberries. The rationale is that workers use employer-provided phones … More

    New Tax Credit for Homebuyers Unnecessary

    Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) reintroduced his plan today to create a $15,000 tax credit for homebuyers purchasing primary residences. The goal of the plan is to jumpstart the depressed real estate market. But as we pointed out last year when Senator Isakson introduced a similar bill, it will not work … More

    Tax Freedom Day Video: We are Never Really Free

    Tax Freedom Day is the day in the year when we have earned enough income to pay our total tax bill for the year. It is a simple way to illustrate the cost of government and can be applied to countries around the world. In the U.S., according to the … More

    Out of Money? Value-Added Tax Next Up

    Massive increases of spending by the Obama Administration, from the stimulus to its proposed budget, have created historically unprecedented large deficits that will push the nation’s debt level to unsustainable levels. It was only a matter of time before the proponents of big government began their push to substantially increase … More

    USA Today Misses the Point of Tea Party Protesters

    Two days after Tax Day, April 17, USA Today ran an editorial—Tax rhetoric vs. realtiy—that said the Tea Party protesters had nothing to be mad at because taxes are not that high. Here is snippet: Quick now: How big a bite do federal income taxes take out of the average … More

    Vehicle Mileage Tax Still Bad Idea

    Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN) came out strongly in favor of a vehicle mileage tax (VMT) yesterday. Just two months ago Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood floated a similar idea, but was quickly shot down by the Obama Administration. The VMT was a bad idea in February and it’s a bad idea … More

    Obama’s Tax Claims Contradict Reality

    President Obama marked Tax Day with a speech touting his tax policies. He made several claims about how his policies will improve the economy, most of which don’t hold up under close scrutiny. Here are a few of the more egregious examples: President Obama claimed the tax cuts in the … More

    Everyday is Tax Day

    Congratulations! You made it! Tax day is finally here and you are free from filing your income tax returns for another year. Celebration is in order just for navigating the labyrinth that is the federal income tax code. While you celebrate finally being done with the arduous task of filing … More

    Survey Says…Taxes too High, Kill the Death Tax

    The Tax Foundation released its “2009 Survey of U.S. Attitudes on Taxes, Government Spending and Wealth Distribution” yesterday. Some interesting findings include: 56 percent of respondents think taxes are too high; Only 14 percent are willing to pay more than $10,000 a year in total taxes for the government services … More