Raising Potash royalties amounts to selfishness by an arbitrary group of people.
Taxation
New Column on Upper-Income Tax Rates
My most recent column is posted at Troy Media's website. Here, I oppose proposals to introduce very high taxes on high-income earners in the 70-80% range. I think the introduction of these kinds of stratospheric tax rates would be a disaster, and would wind up...
How Big Government Killed Britain’s Regions: State spending has driven jobs out of England’s former industrial heartland..
“The question of how to revitalize Britain’s economically moribund regions has bedevilled successive governments for at least three decades. The fact is, all the taxpayer money that has been poured into Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the north of England in the name of reviving the local economies there is doing active harm to the emergence of a private-sector, post-industrial economy.”
Jon Chait Explains Why Reform Is Hard
This is helpful in understanding why it is often difficult to eliminate quirks in tax codes, government programs and policies that seem to irrationally benefit particular individuals, groups or organizations.
Featured News
Free Trade among the Prairie Provinces: A Boost for Their Economies
Trade barriers among provinces in Canada are a problem. Canada has signed trade agreements with foreign countries like the U.S. and regions like the European Union. Yet, trade barriers still exist in Canada even though countries like Germany or Belgium don’t have...
“Capitol” Punishment: A Betrayal
The attack on the Capitol in Washington and its aftermath have taken a toll, but unfortunately, the incident will remain remote and extraordinary for most. It has been politicized, sensationalized and reconstructed, but its tragic impact on those on the front lines is...
Soak the Rich Backfires Again
Another case where taxing the rich hurt the economy
Pinning Hopes on Tax Competition
competition between governments is beneficial because it reduces wasteful government spending and forces a certain discipline on politicians.
Fixing Winnipeg’s Downtown
This December 2002 paper explores “big-picture” policy reforms to revitalize Winnipeg’s high potential downtown. It kicks off the Frontier Centre’s Winnipeg Policy Blueprint Project.
Underfunding: a short history of a word
Look up references to “underfunding,” and a curious trend emerges. They are almost never made by the users of public services: parents, patients and so on. Rather, in almost every case it is their employees, or more particularly public sector union leaders, who use the term
2002 Canada Property Tax Comparison
2002 comparison of effective residential property tax levels in major Canadian cities
Why high property taxes reduce property values
The tax capitalization effect
Shift Priority Tax Emphasis to Land
The means to revitalize a downtown continue to befuddle many Canadian cities. Winnipeg is no exception, with a decidedly mixed outcome despite a potpourri of subsidies and other interventions to boost the central city.
2002 Tax Load Index – The Gap Widens
Our 2002 Tax Load Index expands this year to include B.C., Ontario and two neighbouring U.S. states, North Dakota and Minnesota.
Lower Taxes = Higher Economic Growth
One of the very best places to examine the impact of taxation on economic growth is to look at the United States.