Free Republic

Strong gains in corporate profits, household income and home sales are swelling tax revenues for states nationwide, helping to close budget gaps and boost spending. State-tax revenue for the July-March period of the fiscal year ending June 30 reached $387 billion, up 9.5% from the year-earlier period.... Tax collections in the January-March quarter were up 11.7%, the strongest year-on-year growth for that period since at least 1991. The institute also says that if the current pace continues, states are on track to take in a record $550 billion for the full fiscal year, which ends June 30 for most states.......

As legend has it the famous Laffer Curve was first drawn by economist Arthur Laffer in 1974 on a cocktail napkin during a small dinner meeting... attended by the late Wall Street Journal editor Robert Bartley and such high-powered policy makers as Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. The Laffer Curve helped launch the Reaganomics Revolution here at home and a frenzy of tax rate cutting around the globe.... The theory is really one of the simplest concepts in economics. Yet its logic continues to elude the class-warfare lobby whose disbelief is unburdened by the multiple real-life examples which validate its...

Dutch moving to be latest tax cuttersEurope's race for a friendlier environment for investing By Steve Goldstein, CBS MarketWatch.com Last Update: 10:51 AM ET Sept. 21, 2004 LONDON (CBS.MW) -- When the Dutch government Tuesday unveiled its corporate tax cut plan, it because just the latest in a series of fiscal policy moves by European countries seeking to woo more investment. The Netherlands has proposed to lower taxes from a current nominal rate of 34.5 percent to 30 percent by 2007, a Finance Ministry spokesman said. The nation's economy is overdue for some stimulation. Gross domestic product is on the...

Since Ronald Reagan's death, many inspiring speeches have been delivered and adulatory articles written about his presidency. But few of the tributes have recognized Reagan's greatest achievement, which was indispensable to the U.S. triumph in the Cold War and is crucial for the current war on terrorism. Reagan tapped the creativity of America's entrepreneurs to bring about a global, not just a national, economic revolution. Poets describe creativity as "Promethean," referring to the mythical hero who brought fire to the earth. A Promethean era in world history, the Reagan presidency lit the fires of American creativity - and they have...

Some of you may share the mistaken belief that the Laffer Curve, named for Dr. Arthur Laffer, was tested and found wanting during the Reagan Administration. Nothing could be farther from the truth. There are two possible causes for your error. The first is that you may simply not know what the Laffer Curve is. This, combined with a natural tendency to agree with the "conventional wisdom," may lead you to just mindlessly nod your head in agreement every time you hear some T.V. network reporter blithely dismiss the "discredited Laffer Curve." The second possible cause for your error may...

Get Lucky by Jonathan Chait Post date 12.17.02 | Issue date 12.23.02 One of the things that has fascinated me about The Wall Street Journal editorial page is its occasional capacity to rise above the routine moral callousness of hack conservative punditry and attain a level of exquisite depravity normally reserved for villains in James Bond movies. To wit, a recent lead editorial titled "THE NON-TAXPAYING CLASS." A reader unfamiliar with the Journal's editorial positions might read this headline and assume it refers to ultra-wealthy tax dodgers. But no--the Journal, of course, approves of such behavior. The non-taxpayers it denounces...