Government Assets Fall Apart
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
A recent New York Times article described the wretched management of New York City’s public housing. The main problem highlighted is a common one...
More Opportunity Zone Cronyism
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
The New York Times published an investigation over the weekend entitled “Symbol of ’80s Greed Stands to Profit From Trump Tax Break for Poor Areas.”...
Causes of Wealth Inequality
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders continue to blast wealth inequality. But the twin leftists seem oblivious that wealth inequality may reflect...
Higher Incomes, Higher Tax Rates
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
An article in the New York Times the other day was titled “The Rich Really Do Pay Lower Taxes Than You,” and one in Bloomberg was subtitled...
Soak-the-Rich Taxes Would Morph into Middle-Class Flood
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
In the New York Times, David Leonhardt cheerleads for a new plan by left-wing economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman to raise taxes on...
Minding Money by Migrating
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
Americans are moving from higher-tax states to lower-tax states. Of the 25 highest-tax states, 24 had net out-migration in 2016. Of the 25...
New York Times on Opportunity Zones
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 included capital gains tax cuts on investments in chosen areas called “opportunity zones.”...
Baltimore: Is it Taxes?
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
Baltimore is in the news for its poor economic situation and lack of opportunity for many of its residents. The problem...
Private Pay Tops Federal in 2018
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
The Bureau of Economic Analysis has released data on worker pay for calendar 2018. The data show that compensation for U.S....
Bipartisan Budget Buster
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
Congressional leaders and President Trump have agreed to another budget-busting spending deal. This one is a two-year plan that raises discretionary...
Apollo 11: A Rare Federal Success
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
NASA’s Apollo 11 blasted off 50 years ago today sending astronauts to land on the moon and return safely to earth....
Boston’s Rail System: Another Government Failure
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
The federal government spends $14 billion a year on subsidies for local rail and bus transit. This spending should be zeroed...
Republicans Turn Progressive
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
What are the philosophies of the two parties in Congress today? One of them has veered far to the left. The...
Federal Subsidies Micromanage Local Activities
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
The federal government spends more than $700 billion a year on 1,386 subsidy programs for state and local activities such schools,...
Postal Service in Crisis
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
Mail volumes are falling and the U.S. Postal Service is losing billions of dollars a year while accumulating large liabilities.
The USPS...
Freedom Caucus and Spending Cuts
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
Federal spending will rise more than 7 percent this year and annual deficits will soon top $1 trillion. The government’s rising...
Federal Subsidies Spur Massive Fraud
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
One of the problems with federal hand-out programs is that individuals take advantage of them and scam artists outright loot them....
New Study on Fiscal Federalism
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
The federal government spends $750 billion a year on 1,386 different subsidy programs for state and local governments. The number of...
American Indians: Washington Post Misses the Real Story
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
The Washington Post magazine has a lengthy piece on American Indian policy, focusing on the challenges faced by people living on reservations. The cover story...
Federal Disaster Spending Boosted by Politics/Population
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
Despite rising federal deficits, Congress is set to pass another budget-busting spending bill. This time it is a $19 billion package...
Be Skeptical of Income and Wealth Claims
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
As the 2020 presidential election campaign heats up, get ready for a torrent of claims about incomes, wealth, and inequality. The...
Leaving High-Tax Connecticut for Low-Tax Florida
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
The exodus of the wealthy from high-tax Connecticut continues, according to the Wall Street Journal:
After four years on the market, and three price...
Why is U.S. Government Infrastructure So Costly?
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
Tracy Gordon of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center writes interesting columns on taxes, fiscal federalism, and other economic issues. Before Congress...
Tax Rates Rise as Income Rises
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
Tax Day is here. In a column about this unhappy day, Christine Emba of the Washington Post provides her views regarding income tax filing...
Did You Get a Tax Cut?
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
Federal tax returns for 2018 are due April 15 in most states. With your filing, you can see how your taxes...
Housing Prices, Supply, and Innovation
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
Housing prices have soared in many U.S. and international cities, which has generated affordability problems for middle- and lower-income families. An article...
Reporters Accept Illogical Gas Tax Narrative
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
Here is the framing of countless news articles on infrastructure: the streets have potholes; the federal gas tax has not been...
A.I. Needed to Decipher Tax Code
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act included numerous pro-growth provisions, but it did little to simplify the tax code. Business...
Pearl Harbor Profligacy
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
A damaging divide in democracy is between the profusive promises of politicians and the pathetic performances of bureaucracies. Big government schemes...
Government: High Subsidies, Low Satisfaction
CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE
The OECD has released results from a survey of 22,000 people in 21 countries regarding their views of government social programs.
Governments in the...