Just a moment...
... See moreThe core purpose of a tax code should be to raise money for the government with the least damage to economic growth. Ideally, this means low tax rates on a broad tax base. The broader the tax base, the lower rates can be, the less political friction there is, and the less harm to incentives to work and invest.
The Trump-Ryan 2017 reform made progres
Despite the last-minute passage of the Social Security bill, liberal antipathy to Johnson was as strong as ever—stronger, in fact: 1956 had, after all, been the year of the natural gas fight and the exemption of highway workers from the David-Bacon Act, and new revelations about Johnson’s relationship with Brown & Root. Under a headline that wa
... See moreRobert A. Caro • Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson III
Three decades after the passage of the 1986 reforms, the U.S. tax code is a mockery of the BBLR principle. It is stuffed to the roof with loopholes that narrow the tax base and thus force tax rates higher. If we are to fix our complicated and inequitable tax code again, Americans will have to agree—as we did three decades ago—to purge many of those
... See moreT. R. Reid • A Fine Mess: A Global Quest for a Simpler, Fairer, and More Efficient Tax System
Jack’s fiscal conservatism could be seen in his antagonism to unbalanced budgets, which he believed a threat to the national economy. In 1947, he openly opposed a Republican proposed tax cut, which he attacked as not only unfair to lower-income citizens but also a menace to economic stability. In 1950, he spoke out against Democratic-sponsored spen
... See moreThe icing on this triumphal cake was Johnson’s success in achieving his objectives without awareness of what he had done from supporters who disapproved of those objectives. He himself, of course, had voted for the George Amendment, and he told his reactionary bankrollers that he intended to keep on doing so. On March 3, he wrote Ed Clark, the atto
... See moreRobert A. Caro • Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson III
Jack’s congressional work was a source of constant frustration to him. He was a fiscal conservative who often felt out of sync with the demands of constituents eager for federal largesse. He also had little patience with the resistance to legislation he saw as essential to the national well-being; it reminded him of the adage “with what little wisd
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