tax

Precisely Backwards

by Ryan Young on October 8, 2009

in Deregulate to Stimulate, Economy, International

People buy less of something when it becomes more expensive. That’s what economists call the law of demand. It is one of the key drivers of every facet of human behavior. And it’s a simple concept. Easy to understand. Easy to apply.

Or maybe it only seems that way. 366 members of Congress just voted to attract tourists to the U.S. by taxing them $10 when they enter the country. Seriously.

The noise you hear may well be Adam Smith rolling over in his grave.

Few things are more taxing than our elected officials’ economic illiteracy. How sad that visiting a wonderful country like America may soon be one of them.

UBS v. IRS saga continues

by Gary Howard on July 29, 2009

in International, Legal, Personal Liberty

Today, Wall Street Journal reports that a Miami court has set meeting Friday between the IRS and UBS to look at where they are in settlement negotiations over the case of the IRS demanding that the Swiss bank turn over the names of more then 50,000 U.S. citizens alleged to be tax evaders.

As I have said in past posts on this issue (in which I have been admittedly hard on UBS-but with a purpose), and as UBS seems to now be reiterating, turning over those names would be in contradiction of  Switzerland’s banking privacy laws and its legal view of tax evasion.  Banks in Switzerland are not required to ignore their country’s banking secrecy laws simply because another nation requests them to do so.  This is a sticking point for the IRS, who is using the DoJ to try and get after UBS.  Another factor in the fight to get UBS to crack is the growing pressure from other nations and international NGOs like the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) with its agenda, and Financial Action Task Force (FATF) with its “retaliatory measures,” mentioned in earlier posts. These groups are using the straw men of money laundering and terrorism to force Swiss capitulation.  It has reached a point of absurdity.  Aside from the U.S. government’s attempts at intimidation, the German government even suggested placing Switzerland on the international blacklist.  I guess “Everybody Hates Switzerland” now, until they can get their hands on that money.

Of course, the average citzen is not concerned about the rights of those who can afford to have swiss bank accounts.  Although they should be.  This not only raises concerns about financial privacy, it also raises concerns about sovereignty, civil rights, and a host of other things.  A person’s financial records should be considered as sacred as their medical records.  However, we may soon be entering an era where both are collected and archived by the government.  Only a person who believes Stalin was an OK guy would think that was a good idea.

Cap and Trade Round-Up

by Richard Morrison on June 23, 2009

in Energy, Environment, Features, Global Warming, Zeitgeist

Word has it that the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade/energy tax bill is finally hitting the floor of the House, probably this Friday. CEI is decidedly in the “anti” camp. To that end, we released a statement this morning by Director of Energy and Global Warming Policy Myron Ebell on the legislation and its potential impacts:

Waxman-Markey is a 1,201-page economic suicide note. Those Members of the House who vote for it are voting for long-term economic decline and for turning the United States into a second-rate economy.

Take that, Henry and Ed! But there’s more. Yesterday The Hill published an op-ed on cap and trade by Bob Murray, CEO of Murray Energy and a member of CEI’s advisory council:

Perhaps the most destructive legislation in our country’s history will soon be voted on in the House — the Waxman-Markey tax bill in the guise of addressing climate change. It will have dire consequences for every American. It will raise the cost of energy with little or no environmental benefit. Independent experts estimate that it will cost Americans more than $2 trillion in just over eight years.

CEI and the Cooler Heads Coalition were also mentioned in a story on the Waxman-Markey bill (“Lobbying Frenzy Begins as House Climate Bill Heads for Floor”) by Greenwire reporter Darren Samuelsohn which was republished online by the New York Times:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s plan to bring a major climate and energy measure to the floor Friday has prompted a whirlwind of lobbying.

[...]

Opponents are also readying themselves for the floor battle, with the Cooler Heads Coalition, an ad hoc group of scientific skeptics and legislative critics, planning a special meeting today to organize for the vote. “It’s gonna be fun,” Myron Ebell, director of energy and global warming policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, wrote in an e-mail announcing the meeting.

That’s CEI for you – we’re merry warriors for freedom. More links and background info below.

6/23/09 -Did the CBO Underestimate the Cost of the Waxman-Markey Energy Tax? by William Yeatman

6/9/09 – Behind the Cap and Trade Curtain by Max Schulz (Manhattan Institute)

6/1/09 – Corporate Welfare on a Vast Scale: Obama’s Cap-and-Trade Scam Threatens Economy by Hans Bader

5/7/09 – CEI Sponsors Anti-Climate Tax Pledge by William Yeatman

5/5/09 – Chris Horner on the White House Energy Summit [TV interview]

4/23/09 – CEI Expert Warns Aginst Central Planning in Testimony Against Cap and Trade, by Kevin Mooney

4/22/09 – Testimony Before the Committee on Energy and Commerce by Myron Ebell

4/6/09 – Myron Ebell on Cap and Trade [TV interview]

3/24/09 – $2 Trillion Tax from Obama: Hidden Costs of “Cap-and-Trade” Scheme by Hans Bader



D.C. Tea Party and the 1,000,000 Teabags

by Richard Morrison on April 16, 2009

in Video, Zeitgeist

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Bour14qOiE 285 234]

Will talent flee to the City?

by Fran Smith on March 20, 2009

in Bailout Watch, Economy, International, Personal Liberty, Politics as Usual, Sanctimony

A different take on possible effects of lawmakers’ rabble-rousing on TARP bonuses. Jeffrey Goldfarb at breakingviews.com says that driving out talented financial executives in the U.S. may be a boon for foreign-owned banks in the U.S. in getting new talent, but most especially for London and its global financial powerhouse, the City. Sarbanes-Oxley already caused financial institutions to flee New York for London. The 90 percent tax rate on TARP bonuses might provide a new impetus for savvy executives to relocate.

Still, with London house prices down, and no “Keep Out” signs for foreigners – think TARP-related Visa restrictions in the U.S. – many of those who can choose their continents may soon be thinking the City is something of a safe haven with better job opportunities, as long as the UK doesn’t wind up succumbing to mob rule too.

Maybe London could adapt the Statue of Liberty’s quotation to: “Give me your tired, your rich, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

LibertyWeek 28: Don’t Forget Your Limousine Tax

by Richard Morrison on February 3, 2009

in CEI Projects, Podcast

Your LibertyWeek hosts Richard Morrison and Cord Blomquist welcome you back with a rousing discussion of the much-debated Stimulus to Nowhere and the website where you can evaluate it, StimulusWatch.org. We get an update from the billionaire’s club known as the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and then lament the lack of income tax integrity among President Obama’s cabinet nominees in Scandal Watch: Daschle Edition. Finally, you can put this Olympic News in your pipe and smoke it.

Listen here. Also, thanks to @JerryBrito for the Tweet of the Week™!

The Road to Serfdom–Illustrated!

by Wayne Crews on October 23, 2008 · 1 comment

in Bailout Watch, Economy, Energy, Environment, Nanny State, Personal Liberty

Thanks to CEI colleague Gary Howard for sending along The Road to Serfdom in Cartoons; I’d forgotten all about this capsule version of Hayek’s masterwork.

It’s worth a read when we live in a world plagued all at once not just by a financial crisis and bailout, but by what the Wall Street Journal calls tax-and-spend “Obamanomics” from one candidate and a sweeping, trillion-dollar-plus cap-and-trade energy program by another; an arrogant United Nations agenda to restructure the global economy around green technology and a global “New Deal”; and “professors” united in an appeal to “put price tags on nature in a radical economic rethink to protect everything from coral reefs to rainforests.”

Hayek warned us about planners and their consequences; Decades after the publication of that book, we find no shortage of the breed.

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