The Tax Foundation’s Ten principles of sound tax policy are a must-read for those influ­encing tax policy. I think the list can be further refined down to about half that, but maybe they wanted to get an even ten. For instance, maintaining the neutrality of the system (#2) will result in broad bases (#3). It’s when […]

More →

You can count on only two things in life — death and taxes. Actually, more like two and a half things, because there is also taxes upon death. The estate tax raises revenue by taxing the wealth people leave behind when they die. That’s a good thing. If we could, I would suggest only taxing dead […]

More →

Not mine, but that of historian John Steele Gordon (via Tax Foundation): In the 18^th century, real property was probably the best measure available of a person’s ability to pay taxes. That’s because it generated income from farming or things like water mills, ship yards and stores. Only the very rich had residences on town lots. […]

More →

A few days ago, super-investor Warren Buffett announced he would be donating the majority of his consid­erable assets to Bill Gates’ Foundation, and he’s been rightly commended in the media for his generosity. But for some reason, the ordinarily smart-minded folks at the Tax Policy Foundation have a bone to pick with Buffett over his […]

More →