Tax day came and went this week, ironically moved to the 17th due to Washington DC celebrating “emancipation day.” Washington’s addiction to spending keeps tax rates high, while the labyrinthine enriches lobbyists while causing headaches for Americans across the country. As Ludwig von Mises write in Human Action, “The metamorphosis of taxes into weapons of destruction is the mark of present-day public finance.”
The cost of taxation isn’t limited to what government takes out of taxpayer wallets.
The distortive impact of taxes on US and multinational businesses is also extraordinary, albeit not as much discussed. While monetary policy causes malinvestment through artificially low interest rates, high tax rates and burdensome complexity similarly cause firms to radically alter their business decisions. And just as interest rates affect the length of production, tax rates (and rules) dramatically affect decisions about the capital structure of companies.
Rather than being “the price we pay for civilization,” taxes are an unnecessary burden on the prosperity of society.
On Mises Weekends this week, Jeff is joined by Tho Bishop to discuss Richard Spencer’s appearance in Auburn, Alabama, this week. The event was a win for free speech, but also revealed Spencer’s affinity for socialism and the state. Instead of being a dangerous “thought criminal,” Richard Spencer is really just a naïve statist? Of course, the best way to win in the battle of ideas is not to simply ignore or censor those you disagree with, and there is no need for libertarians to run from topics such as nation and culture. As demonstrated by scholars such as Mises, Rothbard, and Hoppe, these ideas are in no way at odds with liberty and individualism, and are best preserved by decentralizing power and grounding society in a respect for private property rights.
And in case you missed them, here are this weeks Mises Wire articles, covering a wide array of topics including taxes, trade, spending, and the Fed.
- Is Marine Le Pen the French Donald Trump? by Louis Rouanet
- Danger: Federal Tax Revenue Growth Falls to 80-Month Low by Ryan McMaken
- We’re All Dictators Now by Roger McKinney
- How Government Meddles in Your Easter Chocolate by Ryan McMaken
- Glorious Tax Season by Per Bylund
- Frédéric Bastiat Is Right (Again) by Jeff Thomas
- Tax Day by Murray N. Rothbard
- The Racist History of Minimum Wage Laws by Chris Calton
- The Federal Reserve Is, and Always Has Been, Politicized by Ron Paul
- Luddy: The Fed’s Ricky Unchartered Course by Robert L. Luddy
- Why Bill Greene Voted for Ron Paul in the Electoral College by William Greene
- Busting the “Free College” Myth by Jonathan Newman
- How Taxes Distort Business by Jeff Deist
- Stanley Fischer on the Balance Sheet: There will Be No Tantrum on Wall Street by C.Jay Engel
- Auto Loans: The Next Debt Bubble? by Shaun Bradley
- When Low-Wage Workers Are Better than Robots by Justin Murray
- Jeffrey Sachs’s Blind Spot by David Gordon
- Fannie and Freddie Finally Wake Up by Doug French
- What Is the “Correct” Growth Rate of the Money Supply? by Frank Shostak
- New Japanese Translations of The Case Against the Fed and The Essential Rothbard
- Alan Greenspan, Sellout by David Gordon
- Florida Voted for Medical Marijuana, State Legislators Don’t Care by Tho Bishop
