Grabbing Bigger Slices of Pie

Grabbing Bigger Slices of Pie

What happens when nations cut taxes for their richest citizens? Economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez, two of the world’s most respected authorities on the incomes of rich people, have a straightforward answer: In nations that slash tax rates on high...
Green Scissors for Congress

Green Scissors for Congress

When you’re in a hole, you stop digging. And when you’ve got a $1.3-trillion deficit and $15.7 trillion in debt, you’ve got to start cutting. That’s why we joined the environmental group Friends of the Earth and the free-market R Street...
Shameless Tax Loopholes

Shameless Tax Loopholes

Don’t just hang Your head and moan, Buy a loophole Of your own. One intriguing aspect of today’s taxation debate is that it’s so shameless. Republican leaders aren’t embarrassed in the slightest to shill for the rich. Consider this gem from...
The Robin Hood Tax

The Robin Hood Tax

I spent 22 years in the financial services business. Beginning in the 1980s, I worked at exchanges where we traded everything from futures on soybeans to shares of stock to options on interest rates. During these boom years for the U.S. and global financial markets,...
Social Security’s Dual-Income Trap

Social Security’s Dual-Income Trap

U.S. workers have paid a reduced Social Security tax rate of 4.2 percent for the past year and a half, down from the ordinary rate of 6.2 percent. For most Americans, this has meant some welcome tax relief. But one group is still paying more than its fair share....