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Tax Reform Articles, Commentaries
and Op-eds
Stupidity and the
State, Part II
The Wall Street Journal, July 19, 2008
By Ernest S. Christian and Gary A. Robbins
Washington can be counted on to create a crisis -- usually
by sheer incompetence. Then it rushes to the rescue, often
doing more harm than good.
Stupidity and the
State
The Wall Street Journal, June 7, 2008
By Ernest S. Christian and Gary A. Robbins
But the millions of inanities that occur daily throughout
the government's world-wide empire are mere trifles compared
to its big-ticket failures.
Beyond Simplification
The Ripon Forum, Volume 42, No. 1, March/April 2008
By Ernest S. Christian and Gary A. Robbins
Reducing tax paperwork is important, but minimizing government's
impact on the economy is key.
2008 Elections
Won't Result In Better Gov't
Investor's Business Daily, January 15, 2008
By Ernest S. Christian and Gary A. Robbins
Ironically, when it comes to money and the economy, most
of the government's greatest abuses are because of elections.
The JFK Stimulus
Plan
The Wall Street Journal, January 12, 2008
By Ernest S. Christian and Gary A. Robbins
Got an economic downturn? Need a stimulus package? Why
not adopt full or partial first-year expensing, which has
come to the rescue many times since 1962, when President John
F. Kennedy first administered this type of remedy to the economy?
Rx For America:
Cost-Benefit Budgeting
Investor's Business Daily, December 7, 2007
By Ernest S. Christian and Bill Frenzel
Step one for the next president should be to tell the
American people the truth about the federal government. It
is not the source of their well-being. Most of the jobs it
creates are for lawyers, lobbyists and bureaucrats. Mostly,
it spends other people's money.
Tax Code Is Big
Reason For Weak Dollar
Investor's Business Daily, November 6, 2007
By Ernest S. Christian and Gary A. Robbins
The federal government is strongly implicated in America's
spendthrift status, its enormous trade deficit, the weak dollar
and the fact that most Americans are less well-off than they
should be.
Government
Efficiency Prospects
The Washington Times, Septemeber 9, 2007
By Ernest S. Christian and Gary Robbins
To avoid falling off that precipice, Washington must quickly
learn to do "more with less." PART is helpful in
identifying where efficiencies can be achieved.
Real Federal Tax
Burden Is Double If 'Collateral Damage' Is Included
Investor's Business Daily, July 25, 2007
By Ernest S. Christian and Gary A. Robbins
Paying federal taxes does not make us better off. We are
poorer by the amount of tax we pay. And because taxes damage
the economy, impeding its growth, our pretax incomes are also
smaller.
The Cost Of Government
Incompetence: 50 Cents On Dollar Down Rathole
Investor's Business Daily, June 26, 2007
By Ernest S. Christian and Gary A. Robbins
There are no exciting big new ideas in Washington. Leaving
aside law enforcement and national security, there is not
much for big government to do these days - other than waste
money and cause mischief.
Are Americans
Overtaxed?
The Ripon Forum, April 18, 2007
By Ernest S. Christian
Yes we are, if the right measurement is used. It is solely
a matter of comparing the cost of taxes to the benefits derived
from government spending.
The Fiscal Bottom
Line
Wall Street Journal, April 16, 2007
By Ernest S. Christian and William E. Frenzel
Just because something is simple and makes sense does
not mean it isn't true -- even in Washington. Consider the
proposition that tax cuts are good and tax increases are bad
...
A New
Tax Revolution
Washington Times, April 15, 2007
By Ernest S. Christian and Gary Robbins
Lest the 21st century become the post-American century,
we the people must rein in big government in Washington. This
means drastically reducing its access to money, curtailing
its functions and authority, and electing political leaders
with the skills and values necessary to achieve a smaller,
smarter and much less interfering government.
Government Vs.
Economic Growth: Taking Account Of The Real Costs
Investor's Business Daily, February 23, 2007
By Ernest S. Christian and Gary A. Robbins
If there is anything more infuriating to some liberals
than George Bush himself, with his religiosity and embarrassing
accent, it is the common sense, neoclassical idea that tax
cuts are good and tax increases are bad...
The Private-Sector
Cost of $1 in Government Tax Revenue
Tax Notes, July 26, 2006
By Ernest S. Christian and Gary A. Robbins
Have you ever wondered how much it costs the private-sector
economy to provide the government with an additional $1 in
tax revenue? The rather shocking answer can readily be derived
by the type of work now starting to be done by Treasury's
fledgling Dynamic Analysis Division.
Congress Refuses
To Fix A System That Is Enemy Of Common Sense
Investor's Business Daily, July 12, 2005
By Ernest S. Christian
The American people should demand that Congress get on
with the job before more trillions of dollars of GDP are lost,
before more jobs are lost and, in the case of some industries,
before it is too late.
Key To Reforming
The Tax Code: Properly Defining Capital, Income
Investor's Business Daily, June 21, 2005
By Ernest S. Christian
The need for a reliable revenue estimate should not be
a barrier to paying for real-world tax reform with a voluntary
onetime toll charge.
Opening Mike
To Citizen Soldiers Is A Step Forward On Tax Reform
Investor's Business Daily, June 6, 2005
By Ernest S. Christian
People from all corners and persuasions have been given
the opportunity to vent about the tax code and to say how
it should be fixed. The panel might produce a good tax reform
result - but it's clear the members are pioneers in what may
be a new way of bringing about major change in public policy
and law.
Americans Need
A Simplified Tax That Retains Favorite Deductions
Investor's Business Daily, May 10, 2005
By Ernest S. Christian
The present income tax is a mess, and everyone would be grateful
if there were some way to replace it with a simple, understandable
tax that goes quietly and efficiently about the task of collecting
revenue, minding its own business and keeping its hands to
itself.
Realistic
Definition Of Tax Reform Will Help In Getting The Job Done
Investor's Business Daily, April 25, 2005
By Ernest S. Christian
President Bush has defined tax reform in realistic terms:
make the tax code simpler and more conducive to economic growth.
To that end, he selected an advisory panel that is, by leadership
and composition, well-suited for the job of making tax reform
a practical success.
Revisiting
'Scientific Tax Reform': How To Tax Smarter, Not Heavier
Investor's Business Daily, April 12, 2005
By Ernest S. Christian
With broad public support, Bush can achieve what tax reformers
have sought for three-quarters of a century - a tax code that
promotes, rather than retards, economic activity.
How Did
the Tax Code Get so Complicated?
Investor's Business Daily, March 28, 2005
By Ernest S. Christian
The tax code is too complicated for taxpayers or the IRS
to understand and apply. It is also complicated beyond the
point of being able to serve the political and ideological
interests of Congress.
Tax Reform
Converges Fortuitously with Social Security Modernization
Investor's Business Daily, March 15, 2005
By Ernest S. Christian
The president's proposal to modernize Social Security
with "personal retirement accounts" has much in
common with his effort to reform the tax code. So much, in
fact, that it is hard to think about one without the other.
Top Billing
In Any Tax Reform Plan Must Go To Saving And Investment
Investor's Business Daily, March 1, 2005
By Ernest S. Christian
Let's hope President Bush's Tax Reform Advisory Panel
recommends the historic step of pairing up the dynamic duo
of tax reform - tax relief for personal savings and first-year
expensing for business investment in capital equipment.
Tax Reform
Doesn't Have To Be Radical To Be Effective
Investor's Business Daily, February 15, 2005
By Ernest S. Christian
The federal income tax may or may not be replaced by a
"consumption tax" and the base of the corporate
tax may or may not be changed to "value added."
But before any decisions are made, it is important fully to
understand the choices in plain English.
Tax Reform
That Is Kept Simple Presents A Win-Win Opportunity
Investor's Business Daily, February 1, 2005
By Ernest S. Christian
Tax reform is not the complex, Herculean task that many
have thought. The half dozen aberrations in the tax code that
are most damaging to economic growth are also sources of much
tax complexity. Remove the most egregious impediments to economic
growth and get major simplification as a free byproduct.
Government
in the Way
The Washington Times, January 31, 2005
By Ernest S. Christian
Judged by marketplace standards, government has a faulty
business plan and a product line with too many items. Most
don't work properly. All are grossly overpriced. Some are
given away or sold at deep discounts to favored customers.
End
This Damaging Tax and Trade Charade
Financial Times, March 09, 2004
By Ernest Christian and Gary Hufbauer
When Congress repeals the Foreign Sales Corporation, it
should call a halt to the charade that forces the US to tax
its exports, while allowing other countries not only to exempt
exports from value-added tax but also to impose VAT on imports
from the US.
The
International Components of Tax Reform: Tax Policy that Serves
the National Interest (Part1)
Journal of International Taxation, July 2003
By Ernest S. Christian
Tax reform remedies thus far have been a hodgepodge of international
tax rules that often operate at cross-purposes, create perverse
incentives, and incur the ire of international trade organizations.
The
International Components of Tax Reform: Tax Policy that Serves
the National Interest (Part 2)
Journal of International Taxation, February 2004
By Ernest Christian
This is the second and concluding installment on how the
current tax system puts U.S. companies at a disadvantage in
their efforts to compete internationally.
Manufacturing
Repairs
The Washington Times, October 2, 2003
By Ernest S. Christian
Our tax code has long double-taxed manufacturers by not
allowing them to expense plant and equipment and by taxing
dividends. Even with full relief, the damage already done
is so great it might be many years before manufacturing in
America fully recovers from the misguided tax policies of
the past.
Recovery
With More Bang for the Buck
The Washington Times, December 17, 2002
By Ernest S. Christian and Gary Robbins
Step One on the road to recovery should be to stimulate business
investment in capital goods. After all, it is a lack of business
purchases, not a lack of consumer spending, that has characterized
the current economic doldrums.
Stealth
Approach to Tax Reform
The Washington Times, November 1, 2002
By Ernest S. Christian and Gary A. Robbins
Unbeknownst to many of the loudest advocates for radical
change in our archaic tax code, fundamental tax reform is
already under way. Mercifully, this lack of awareness extends
to the opponents of reform -- of whom there are surprisingly
many.
IPI: Quick
Study: The International Components of Tax Reform
IPI Center for Tax Analysis, February 12, 2002
By Ernest S. Christian
Our current tax system puts U.S. companies at a disadvantage
in their efforts to compete internationally. Remedies thus
far have been a hodgepodge of international tax rules that
often operate at crosspurposes, create perverse incentives,
and incur the ire of international trade organizations. A
reformed tax code including territorial taxation would better
serve the vital interests of the United States.
Springing
Tax Reform From a Bad WTO Case
Tax Notes, April 17, 2000
By Gary Hufbauer, Ernest Christian and Harold Adrion
In its recent Foreign Sales Corporation decision, the Appellate
Body of the World Trade Organization trashed legal history.
Deciding for the European Union and against the United States,
the Appellate Body ignored a settlement negotiated 20 years
ago. Yet this bad decision gives Congress a springboard
to historic tax reform.
De-radicalizing
Tax Reform
Tax Notes, April 13, 1998
By Ernest S. Christian
Ernest S. Christian explains how two popular tax reform proposals,
the USA Tax and the flat tax, could be made to seem much less
radical by being expressed in terms of amendments to the current
Internal Revenue Code.
How Much Simplification
is Enough? Is a Returnless Tax Realistic?
Tax Notes, December 23, 1996
By Ernest S. Christian
Fundamental tax restructuring may be defeated by its own unrealistic
expectations and overblown rhetoric;and, simplification, so
often the rhetorical touchstone, is an ancillary product of
a tax system that is neutral as between persons, neutral as
between labor and capital, neutral as between saved and consumed
income, and neutral internationally.
Kemp Commission Report:
The Good, The Less Good, and the ...
Tax Notes, January 29, 1996
By Ernest S.Christian
The Kemp Commission report represents a significant step forward
in the long march toward replacing the current federal income
tax with a new tax structure that is simple, economically
rational and, therefore, consonant with the national interest.
Good
Intentions Do Not a Tax System Make
Tax Notes, November 20, 1995
By Ernest S. Christian
The current federal income tax is a national disgrace that
ought to be replaced immediately before it can do further
harm. It has characteristics that would be condemned in any
human personality. It is inexcusably class conscious, it is
hypocritical, it is meddlesome, it is overbearing, it is mean
and hurtful, it is covetous and, above all, it is downright
foolish.
The Tax Restructuring
Phenomenon: Analytical Principles and Political Equation
National Tax Journal, September, 1995
By Ernest S. Christian
It is not so easy to construct a tax system that the
American people will accept and that will actually be enacted
into law. It is even harder to enact a new American tax system
that is based on core principles of enduring merit that will
continue to serve the nation as political and economic circumstances
change in the future.
Integrating Corporate
and Shareholder Taxes
Tax Notes, September 17, 1990
By Ernest S. Christian, Jr.
In this article, Mr. Christian sets forth five criteria
for evaluating methods for fully integrating the corporate
and individual income taxes, and then examines five models
of integration in light of these criteria. The article urges
that integration be achieved in a manner that is least likely
to introduce new distortions and most likely to enhance investment
per dollar of revenue loss.
Fundamental
Flaws in the Minimum Tax Depreciation Preference
Tax Notes, July 14, 1986
By Ernest S. Christian Jr., George J.Shutzer and Kathleen
M. Nilles
In this special report, the authors illustrate the adverse
consequences of the depreciation recalculation required under
the alternative minimum tax systems contained in the House
and Senate tax bills.
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