Tag Archives: Taxes/regulation

Gimme shelter: the real cost of renting vs. homeownership What is the real cost of shelter? Over the last decade there has been lots of discussion of housing prices in isolation. Sometimes that discussion includes an inflation adjustment — which is problematic, since housing constitutes nearly 40% of the entire consumer price index, so in essence housing is being deflated largely by the cost of housing itself! From time to time there has also been a...

I have been getting quite a few alerts on proposed changes happening behind the scenes with the ACA. I also found a couple of new places with some intelligent writers who have explained things in greater depth than what I knew. The CMS is proposing a rule allowing states greater authority in defining the ACA. This comes in addition to Trump’s EO. The new rule would give states greater flexibility in: – Defining the ACA’s minimum essential benefits to...

Everything Is Going Great, So Let’s Change It Well, the actual headline on the front page of the Washington Post below the fold today reads, “Economy shows strong growth, could provide GOP momentum.”  The strong growth is the 3.0% annual growth rate of GDP in the third quarter (supported by a strong stock market), with the momentum not being the obvious point that this might lead to general popular electoral support in the future for the GOP, but more...

Top marginal taxation and economic growth by Santo Milasi and Robert Waldmann has (finally) been publishedhere in Applied Economics ABSTRACT The article explores the relationship between top marginal tax rates on personal income and economic growth. Using a data set of consistently measured top marginal tax rates for a panel of 18 OECD countries over the period 1965–2009, this article finds evidence in favour of a quadratic top tax–growth relationship....

Everyone is reporting a 2018 Budget has been passed. Tucked away inside the 2018 Budget is a Tax Reform Resolution which allows the House to write the bill. The House has passed the Senate Tax Reform Budget Resolution creating a $1.5 trillion deficit with a 216-212 vote. What this means in the Senate is a majority vote is only necessary to pass the Tax Reform bill which Trump has been campaigning and tweeting silly comments. Unless the House and Senate...

(Dan here..lifted from 2010 Angry Bear postings and still centrally relevant.  More to be posted) A Proposed Bet for Professors Bryan Caplan and David R. Henderson   by Mike Kimel A Proposed Bet for Professors Bryan Caplan and David R. Henderson (and Anyone Else Who Believes Lower Taxes Generate Faster Economic Growth) Cross posted at the Presimetrics blog. Professors Caplan and Henderson, Both of you have had recent posts that indicate you have some...

I jump at a rare chance to disagree with Paul Krugman and as a bonus also with my very good friend Brad DeLong, because Krugman just tweeted that Brad is right Brad is right here: Mankiw et al have clearly made a math error https://t.co/HpyVdoyRCT 1/ — Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) October 24, 2017 update: Krugman has a whole blog post about how Brad is right. The discussion started with Republican efforts to argue that, this time, it really will trickle...

Corporate Profit Tax Cuts and Wages: the UK Experience Kimberly Clausing and Edward Kleinbard have each written some interesting papers on transfer pricing. Here they team up on a different topic: The President’s Council of Economic Advisers claims that slashing the corporate tax rate to 20 percent would boost the average American’s wages by $4,000 per year (“very conservatively”) — and perhaps by as much as $9,000. If true, that would be a remarkable...

Now Amazon wants to break the bank On Thursday (October 19), the first stage of the Amazon sweepstakes for a second headquarters, dubbed “HQ2,” was completed as cities submitted their bids to the Internet giant. With a possible $5 billion investment and eventually 50,000 jobs at salaries over $100,000, this is one of the very best economic development projects to come along in a long time. BUT IS IT?* I have a hard time understanding how this project...

Treasury Secretary Mnuchin’s Forked Tongue on Tax Cuts for the Wealthy Shortly before the inauguration, Steve Mnuchin discussed the incoming administration’s tax plans and announced the Mnuchin Rule–that “[a]ny reductions we have in upper-income taxes will be offset by less deductions so that there will be no absolute tax cut for the upper class.”   EXCLUSIVE: Steve Mnuchin says there will be ‘no absolute tax cut for the upper class’, CNBC Squawk Box...