“Almost £40 million of taxpayers’ money paid for lobbying and political campaigning” Courtesy Taxpayers’ Alliance New analysis from the TaxPayers’ Alliance reveals how ministers, officials and quangocrats are wasting taxpayers’ cash funding organisations that lobby the government. From 2017-19, organisations that lobby for changes in public policy received at least £39,584,172. Taxpayer money […]
Tag: taxation
Exposure to good news increases tax compliance
“How biased news affect our willingness to pay taxes” Courtesy of IZA People’s willingness to pay taxes does not only depend on the fear of a tax audit or the amount of penalties for cheaters. Satisfaction with the actions and trustworthiness of the government is another crucial driver of tax compliance. Theoretical work […]
White House takes victory lap with economic report
By Erik Sass, TES Editor-in-Chief The United States is enjoying the longest period of economic growth in its history, now 127 months into the current economic expansion, with unemployment hovering around 3.5% and a GDP growth rate of 2.3% of 2019. The White House highlighted these gains – and the benefits […]
Politics, technology and environmental change merging in megatrend, threatening upheaval
By Dr. Alexander Görlach, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs The coming months will see three trends from last year merge into a megatrend that will not only define the presidential election in the USA but also send waves across the Atlantic to Europe and across the Pacific to […]
Washington Beyond the Headlines: The PRO Act Is a Con
By Andy Blom, TES Washington Editor What a week…Impeachment…State of the Union (watch it here)…Iowa! Well, no matter how crazy the politicians make us, free market policy people keep working on issues and ideas that affect America, and the world. Read on for this week’s news… The PRO Act is a […]
How Tariffs Will Lead to Fewer Kids Playing Tabletop Games
Janson Q. Prieb, American Consumer Institute The Trump administration recently announced that video game consoles will not be subject to the upcoming tariffs. While this might be good news for companies like Sony and Microsoft, the same benefit will not be extended to tabletop games. With increased prices on tabletop games, parents are indirectly […]
Canadian consumers would pay price for digital tax
“Taxing the tech giants: Canadian consumers and businesses will pay the price” Courtesy of MEI/IEDM During the last federal election campaign, all parties promised to raise taxes on the digital giants. Although this is on ice awaiting the conclusion of OECD discussions on the matter, the idea is still present in the public […]
Have health insurance? Then you shouldn’t pay full price for insulin
The end of January is a special time for many of us — and not always a happy one. It’s a time to realize we’ve failed to keep new year’s resolutions, to remember how much we hate cold weather, and to chafe at the U.S. healthcare system as newly reset insurance deductibles […]
Irish tax system fairest in Europe
“Irish tax system does most in Europe to reduce inequality” Courtesy of ESRI No other tax system in Europe does more to reduce household income inequality than Ireland’s, according to a new study by an economist at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). While the distribution of household income in Ireland […]
“Large-scale” VAT fraud costs Europe 30B-60B euros per year
“The EU Runs a Large Trade Surplus with Itself – One Reason Is Apparently Large-Scale VAT Fraud” Courtesy of IfW Kiel The EU runs a trade surplus with itself of EUR 307 billion—a figure that should be zero if all transactions were properly reported and recorded. Measurement errors alone cannot account for this […]