Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

How Amazon’s Accounting Makes Rich People’s Income Invisible

By Steve Roth  (originally published at Evonomics) How Amazon’s Accounting Makes Rich People’s Income Invisible Image you’re Jeff Bezos, circa 1998. You’re building a company (Amazon) that stands to make you and your compatriots vastly rich. But looking forward, you see a problem: if your company makes profits, it will have to pay taxes on […]

IMF Fiscal Monitor: Progressive Taxation Need Not Deter Growth

IMF Fiscal Monitor: Progressive Taxation Need Not Deter Growth The latest from the IMF is a must read for progressives even if it runs contrary to the nonsense coming out of the White House: At the global level, inequality has declined substantially over the past three decades, but within national boundaries, the picture is mixed: […]

Does Kevin Hassett Understand Transfer Pricing?

Does Kevin Hassett Understand Transfer Pricing? Howard Gleckman does: It is true that bringing US corporate rates in line with our trading partners may reduce incentives for improper transfer pricing. But there is a flaw in Hassett’s argument: While these practices are aimed at reducing tax lability, they do not represent real economic activity. And […]

The Tax-Cut Framework Won’t Create Jobs and Digs the Inequality Ditch even Deeper

The Tax-Cut Framework Won’t Create Jobs and Digs the Inequality Ditch even Deeper Marcus Ryu, a self-described Silicon Valley entrepreneur who created, with others, a company now worth $5 billion on the New York Stock Exchange, argues in today’s Op-Ed section of the New York Times that “Tax Cuts Won’t Create Jobs“, NY Times (Oct. […]

Part of Patriotism is Paying Taxes

Part of Patriotism is Paying Taxes As Americans, we pay taxes to allow our government to support important activities that we as individuals or individual businesses either can’t do at all or can’t do as successfully.  Both individuals and businesses benefit from government, so that paying taxes is a wonderful exercise in patriotism. For individuals, […]

Right Wing Propaganda Tank IPI Likes the Trump Tax-Cuts-for-the-Rich “framework”

Right Wing Propaganda Tank IPI Likes the Trump Tax-Cuts-for-the-Rich “framework” There’s no surprise here.  The Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) is a right-wing “think” (i.e., propaganda) tank that has consistently argued for tax policies that favor multinational corporations and the wealthy.  So IPI has a posting on Sept 29 that is supportive of the so-called “tax reform […]

Trump’s Inadequate Response to Hurricane Maria and the Posse Comitatus Act

by ProGrowthLiberal  (originally published at Econospeak) Trump’s Inadequate Response to Hurricane Maria and the Posse Comitatus Act Credit to Matthew Yglesias for his discussion of the incompetence of Donald Trump as well as the excuses for it from his defenders including: Officials have also cited the Posse Comitatus Act as a complicating factor that helps explain why […]

Trump’s Refusal to Release His Own Tax Returns and California’s Legislature

Trump’s Refusal to Release His Own Tax Returns and California’s Legislature As most everyone is aware, Trump has refused to release his tax returns, breaking precedent with decades of presidential candidates and president’s release of tax returns.  Even Dick Cheney,  grumpy corporatist veep, released his tax returns.  I had fun using them as the raw […]