Top Tax Rate of 62%

State Corporate Income Tax Rates

"Today's Monday Map shows the top marginal state corporate income tax rate in each state."

The Tax Foundation - Monday Map: State Corporate Income Tax Rates

Oil Subsidies or Tax Breaks?

By: Randall Hoven
For: American Thinker

Everyone wants to end subsidies to oil companies, from President Obama to John Boehner and Paul Ryan. My question was "What subsidies?" Remarkably enough, CNN Money provided the answer.

It turns out that they are all tax "breaks." I even hesitate to call them "breaks" because some of them amount to little more than Congress defining accounting terms such as "capital equipment." And the total amount of earnings not collected in taxes (which liberals define as a "subsidy") is about $4 billion per year. Here is how that breaks down.

Read the entire story here.

Cigarette-Tax Crime Wave

"Frederic Bastiat said that all economic policy has two sides, one seen and one unseen. Taxes don't only raise revenue (California's cigarette tax raised $839 million in fiscal year 2009-10); they also change consumers' behavior; for better, and for worse."

Michelle Steel: The unseen cigarette-tax crime wave | tax, taxes, cigarette - Opinion - The Orange County Register

Driving Wealth Away

"Today, the behavior that the advocates would tax out of existence is . . . earning six figures and higher while living in New York."

Driving wealth from New York--Nicole Gelinas - NYPOST.com

Why Tax the Rich is Wrong

"But when a government that has overspent for years turns to tax increases instead of spending cuts simply for the sake of 'fairness,'it weakens free enterprise, lowers opportunity and impoverishes us in many ways."

Articles & Commentary

Top 8 Tax Protest Songs of All Time

"Love may have inspired more songs than any other subject, but the subject of taxes inspires tax songs that are just as heartfelt. Singers and songwriters seem to be just like the rest of us – you work hard, you do the best you can, and pow! The better you do, the deeper the IRS digs into your pocket."

Top 8 tax protest songs of all time | IHateTheMedia.com

The Fiscal Purists Go Mad

"But if you want to feel really gloomy about America’s ability to tackle its deficit, consider the ideological, almost theological, arguments about tax that are taking place within the Republican camp itself. In the past few weeks these have been revealed in all their dreadful clarity by an esoteric debate about the tax break for ethanol."

Lexington: The fiscal purists go mad | The Economist

Recycled Determinism?

This article by Charles Kenny claims "The reason you earned as much as you did last year has far less to do with how hard you worked than with where and to whom you were born."

Isn't this just another version of determinism, the belief that whatever we are and will be is determined by circumstances and forces out of our control?

And if economic success is truly out of an individual's control, why should we assume that it is under the control of the individuals who write the tax code?

Seems to me that Kenny undermines his own argument.

Don't Mess With Taxes - By Charles Kenny | Foreign Policy

Driving Out Dollars

"A New Jersey state senator wants to establish a millionaires tax. Have Trenton policymakers learned nothing from their state's experience with fleeing wealth?"

Driving Out Dollars - Investors.com

The Price of Taxing the Rich

"The working class may be taking a beating from spending cuts used to close a cavernous deficit, Mr. Williams said, but the root of California's woes is its reliance on taxing the wealthy."

The Price of Taxing the Rich - WSJ.com

When Will Tax Freedom Day Be this Year?

"Tax Freedom Day was created by Florida businessman Dallas Hostetler in 1948."

The Tax Foundation - When Will Tax Freedom Day Be this Year?:

IRS-Led Capital Flight

"The IRS proposal is part of a broader global effort to fight 'tax competition' i.e., people shifting their funds to nations with friendly tax and regulatory policies."

Florida Banks, Lawmakers Fear IRS-Led Capital Flight - Investors.com

Film Tax Credits Are a Bad Deal: Massachusetts Edition

"The report finds that the state's $82 million film tax credit program generated $10 million in new state tax revenue in 2009."

The Tax Foundation - Film Tax Credits Are a Bad Deal: Massachusetts Edition

Pension Pledges Have Left UK and US 'insolvent'

"The world's most advanced economies, including Britain and the US, would be insolvent if they accounted properly for the pension and health pledges made to their aging populations, an authoritative report has warned."

Pension pledges have left UK and US 'insolvent' - Telegraph

Illinois State Income Tax Hikes Hit Businesses Hard

"The tax increase has vaulted Illinois into the top ranks of states with the highest corporate rates"

Illinois state income tax hikes hit businesses hard - Jan. 13, 2011

Even Secretariat Understood Death Tax’s Cruelty - Deroy Murdock - National Review Online

Saw this movie this weekend. Loved it.

Read more here.

The Last Boom Town in America

Imperial Athens. Imperial Rome. Imperial Washington. Centers of power and, therefore, money. Power is Washington's product, and the more power it has, the more money it attracts.

As Washington gains power and wealth, it grows as an obstacle to production and innovation in the rest of the nation. Silicon Valley is just outside of San Francisco. LA produces world-class entertainment. What does Washington produce? Very little that does not depend on spending other people's money and telling them how to live.

As my hero Bastiat might have said, Washington is no longer a town that uses law to protect men and their property, it uses law to plunder both.

Why is Washington now home to 7 of the 10 richest counties in the United States? Because it is better to be the plunderer than the plundered.

The Power to Tax

According to the 2011 "Business Tax Climate" published by the Tax Foundation:

1. Worst state in the union for business taxes: New York.

2. Best state in the union for business taxes: South Dakota.

3. Most improved: Illinois.

4. Heading down fast: New Mexico.

5. At risk: Washington State

Full report here.

Singapore: A Testament to Free Trade

The Discovery Channel is currently showing the "History of Singapore" on their HD Theater network. Among other things, the documentary shows how powerful freedom and free trade can be. Singapore, a small island (275 sq. miles) with no natural resources, has grown to become the 16th largest trading country in the world and 9th richest country in the world (GDP/capita).

If you can not catch in on HD Theater, you may watch the video online below.

Part One


Part Two


Part Three


Part Four


Part Five