Taxes a pleasure

Apparently, I’m not (that) crazy. I like doing my taxes.

Taxes a Pleasure? Check the Brain Scan – New York Times
The University of Oregon announced a new piece of research last week with a startling headline: “Paying taxes, according to the brain, can bring satisfaction.”
Could this be true? The research is in the new issue of Science, so it’s got the right pedigree, but still. How could politicians have gotten it so wrong? Even the most liberal Democratic candidates never imagined a lot of voters whistling as they merrily write out checks to the I.R.S.

Filed under: Economics

Inequality.org

This looks like a potentially interesting and useful website from Demos.

inequality.org
What We’re About
Ten or fifteen years ago, we can attest, the growing concentration of income and wealth in America was not a focus of great national concern. While the problem itself has grown worse over the past few years, America has taken a huge step forward in awareness…

Filed under: Economics

FactCheck.org on so-called Faritax

I think it’s worth reading the tax reform panel’s description as well as the factcheck.org summary below.

FactCheck.org: Unspinning the FairTax
In our recent article on the second GOP debate, we called out Gov. Mike Huckabee as well as Reps. Tom Tancredo and Duncan Hunter for their support of the FairTax. We wrote that the bipartisan Advisory Panel on Tax Reform had “calculated that a sales tax would have to be set at 34 percent of retail sales prices to bring in the same revenue as the taxes it would replace, meaning that an automobile with a retail price of $10,000 would cost $13,400 including the new sales tax.” A number of readers pointed out that H.R. 25, the specific bill mentioned by Gov. Huckabee, calls for a 23 percent retail sales tax and not the 34 percent used by the Advisory Panel on Tax Reform. That 23 percent number, however, is misleading and based on some extremely optimistic assumptions. We found that while there are several good economic arguments for the FairTax, unless you earn more than $200,000 per year, fairness is not one of them.

Filed under: Economics, Fuzzy math.