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Economy & Taxes blog
Match first or card first? A worksheet for splitting spare dollarsWhether the 401(k) match or the credit card comes first is arithmetic, not a feeling. A worked example with exact numbers and a worksheet you can copy.Three households and one grocery bill, budget scenarios when prices jumpA 10 percent jump in food and energy lands differently on a renting couple, a retired pair and a one-income family. Here is the exact arithmetic for each.Republican tax cuts side by side, from Harding all the way to TrumpEach Republican tax cut had its own design and result. A table of top rates and a hard look at the claim that cuts pay for themselves keep both sides honest.I, Pencil and the price system, how nobody plans your breakfastNobody on earth knows how to make a pencil, yet millions are made. Prices carry knowledge no planner can gather, and that is why markets feed us.Seven Myths About the Free Market That Deserve RetirementSeven common claims about markets, tested against property law, voluntary exchange, Ricardo's 1817 arithmetic and the real record of subsidies and rules.How Social Security works and the promise built into its 1935 designSocial Security is a pay-as-you-go transfer, not a savings account, and the Supreme Court said so. How it works, what was promised, what the trustees report is.Does your giving change your tax bill? A worksheet for church familiesA step-by-step worksheet to test whether gifts to church and charity lower your taxes, with worked examples, the bunching trick and where to find real numbers.Yes, Markets Sometimes Fail, and Governments Fail Right Alongside ThemMarkets fail in real, textbook ways. Governments fail in equally predictable ways. Here is a plain test for when intervention is worth it.Two vetoes, one signature and the 1996 welfare law that put marriage in statuteHow a Republican Congress and a Democratic president ended AFDC in 1996, what the law did, and the fair criticisms from both left and right.Interstate Competition Is Why States Cannot Afford to Be LazyBecause people and firms can cross a state line, states compete for them; that pressure disciplines government better than any agency in Washington.How the States Rewrote Welfare Before Washington Finally Caught UpBefore the 1996 federal welfare law, governors asked Washington for waivers to try work rules and time limits, and what they learned shaped the national bill.Regulation protects us, so why count the cost? Because someone pays itClean air and safe food are worth having, and so is knowing what they cost. How to count both sides of every rule without sounding like an enemy of clean water.Seven tax myths that scare working families and cost them moneySeven common tax beliefs tested against the actual rules, with exact arithmetic on a labelled hypothetical schedule, and one myth our own side tells.Kennedy cut tax rates too, and what the 1964 law provesA Democratic President proposed cutting the top tax rate from 91 to 70 percent. Here is the 1964 story, its honest caveats, and how to use it at the table.Work Out Your Own Property Tax Bill With Mill Rates and ExemptionsYour property tax bill is assessed value times a rate, minus exemptions. Here is the calculation, a worked example with exact arithmetic, and how to appeal.Jack Kemp, the quarterback who sold the party on growthA pro quarterback turned nine-term congressman made lower rates the party's creed. His career, his bills and the argument he lost are worth knowing.Sales Tax, Property Tax and Who Really Pays for Your StateEvery tax has a legal payer and an economic payer, and they are not always the same. How sales and property taxes work, and why no income tax is not no tax.The Laffer curve explained, and the claim it never actually madeThe Laffer curve says a revenue peak sits between 0 and 100 percent. It never said every tax cut pays for itself. Here is the honest version and how to use it.Warren Harding ended a deep depression in 1921 without a stimulus billThe depression of 1920 and 1921 lasted about eighteen months while Washington cut spending and taxes. What Harding did, what he didn't, and who deserves credit.Income Tax or No Income Tax, and What Each Choice Costs a StateA state with no income tax still has to pay for schools and roads. Five states side by side show where the money comes from, who pays and what can go wrong.What the 1860 Republican Platform Promised Compared With What Democrats OfferedThe 1860 Republican platform was a full program, not one issue. A side-by-side table shows how it differed from the split Democrats, plank by plank.Milton Friedman Took Free Markets Out of the Classroom and Into the KitchenFriedman won a Nobel Prize, then spent his fame explaining freedom to ordinary people. Here are his best arguments, and the best objection to them.Theodore Roosevelt busted trusts and saved forests, and the GOP forgot halfRoosevelt's Square Deal enforced the rules against monopoly and held public land in trust for the future. Conservatives should weigh both halves, not quote one.Hayek Explained Why the Smartest Planner in the Room Always LosesHayek's 1945 essay shows why no committee can gather what millions of people know, and why the price system does the job for free.Divided government gave us welfare reform and a balanced budgetWith Democrats set to run both chambers and Trump in the White House, the record of divided government shows which deals are possible and what they cost.Do churches pay taxes? Eleven questions about churches and the tax manStraight answers on church property and income tax, the Johnson Amendment, the parsonage allowance, Form 990, IRS audits and the best case against exemption.How Proposition 13 Started the Tax Revolt That Reshaped the GOPA 1978 California ballot measure capped property taxes and turned a local grievance into a national movement; here is how it worked and what it did.Four Farm Families, Four Ways to Hand the Land to the Next GenerationPassing on a farm is about fairness among heirs as much as taxes. Four hypothetical households show the trade-offs, with the arithmetic.Jack Kemp argued that growth could win the war on povertyKemp took supply-side economics into neighborhoods Republicans had written off, and his agenda still deserves a hearing.Does Your Farm Owe Estate Tax? A Worksheet You Can Run at the Kitchen TableMost farm families owe no estate tax, but land-rich, cash-poor operations can. A step-by-step worksheet with a labelled hypothetical example.The child tax credit from $400 to $2,000, told bill by billA dated timeline of the child tax credit, from a 1994 Republican promise to $2,000 in 2017, with refundable and nonrefundable credits explained.Answering the Charge That Conservatives Only Care About the RichThe charge deserves a fair hearing and a numbered answer, from the EITC to welfare reform to school choice, plus where the evidence is mixed.Why your raise feels smaller than the number your boss pays outEvery job has two prices: what the employer pays and what you take home. How payroll taxes, mandates and a health-insurance tax rule build the gap.Why the National Firearms Act of 1934 taxed guns instead of banning themCongress wanted to curb machine guns but doubted it could ban them, so it reached for the taxing power. Gangland, a $200 stamp, Sonzinsky, Miller and Heller.Seven myths about Reagan's economy that both sides still repeatReagan's economic record is better and messier than the slogans on either side, and Republicans argue best when they know the difference.The Mellon Tax Cuts of the 1920s and What Happened to RevenueThe 1920s tax cuts are the oldest test case for the idea that lower rates can grow the economy. Here is the law, the logic and the best critique.The new employer's checklist for the first year of payroll and taxesA grouped checklist for the first hire, with the reason behind every item, from the EIN to the W-2, plus payroll arithmetic worked on a hypothetical employee.Four families, one tax change, and how a deduction differs from a creditThe same thousand-dollar tax break helps four hypothetical households by very different amounts, depending on whether it is a deduction or a credit.Your big tax refund is a loan you made to the government for freeA large refund means you overpaid all year and Washington held your money without interest. How withholding began, how the W-4 controls it, and what to do.Walking through Form 1040 from the first line to the refundA step-by-step walk through the 1040 in the order the decisions come, with what to expect at each and where to find this year's thresholds.A paycheck worksheet that shows where every dollar of your pay goesWork through one hypothetical $1,000 paycheck line by line, from Social Security and Medicare to withholding, then add the employer's half.Silent Cal said little and ran one of the loudest budget records in historyCoolidge made restraint a governing philosophy, from the Boston police strike to the federal ledger. His record deserves praise and an honest critique.Five changes in the 2017 tax law that reached the kitchen tableJudge the 2017 law one change at a time: the standard deduction, child credit, corporate rate, pass-through deduction and SALT cap, with the critics' best case.The 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts and why they came with an expiration dateA Senate rule forced two big tax cuts to expire, and that rule explains a decade of cliff fights. Here is how the reconciliation trap works.The 1986 tax reform that lowered rates by closing loopholesReagan and a Democratic House traded a 28 percent top rate for a wider base. Here is how the bargain worked, why it frayed, and what a copy would need.Reagan's 1981 tax cut and the quiet end of bracket creepThe 1981 tax law cut rates, but its indexing clause did the lasting work: Congress could no longer tax inflation as if it were a raise.Price gouging laws sound fair and then the shelves go emptyA cap on prices after a disaster feels fair, but a capped price removes the reason to bring more ice. The record from Rome to 1981, and what actually helps.Zoning may be the biggest price control you never got to vote onLocal land-use rules cap how much housing gets built, and a cap on supply is a price control by another name. Here is the case, the objection and the fix.Why family policy should not punish the parent who stays homeChild-care subsidies and credits reward families who buy care and ignore families who give it. The fix is neutrality between the choices parents make.Who really pays a tariff, following the dollar from dock to shelfThe importer writes the check, but the burden spreads. Follow a hypothetical $100 part through three cases, then weigh the case for tariffs against the cost.Should the child credit pay families who don't work? The 2021 argumentThe best case for the 2021 child credit expansion, and the conservative answer about work, the EITC, the 1996 reform and a fair test for any family credit.How the CPI is built and why it never matches your grocery receiptThe Consumer Price Index prices an average basket for an average household. Here is how it is built, what it misses, and why your own inflation rate differs.Inflation is the one tax that never needs a vote in CongressInflation moves buying power from savers and wage earners to the biggest debtor in the country, and no member of Congress ever has to vote for it.Eight Myths About Farm Subsidies That Both Parties Keep RepeatingThe left and the right argue about farm programs with slogans. Eight claims tested against how the farm bill is built and what USDA itself reports.Trace Your Family's Energy Dollar From the Meter and Pump to the Grocery BillA step-by-step worksheet that adds your electric, gas, gasoline and the energy hidden in groceries, with every sum shown on invented round numbers.Thomas Sowell Asks What Happens After the Policy PassesSowell's three questions, compared with what a bill promises, show why good intentions are not a result. Three policies tested, including two from the right.Eight Days Into His Term, Reagan Scrapped Oil Price Controls for GoodA decade of federal price-fixing gave America shortages and gas lines, and one executive order on January 28, 1981 ended it. Here is how it came and went.Bastiat's Broken Window Is the Best Economics Lesson in Five MinutesFrederic Bastiat's 1850 parable of the broken window, explained step by step and applied to taxes, subsidies and make-work, plus its limits.The Reagan Tax Cuts Rate by Rate and the Tax Reform of 1986What the 1981 law cut, the 1982 law took back, and the 1986 reform rewrote, with the arithmetic and an honest look at growth, revenue and the deficits.Nixon's 1972 Landslide and the Birth of the Blue-Collar RepublicanRepublicans did not always have working-class voters, and the Nixon years show how the shift began and what holds that coalition together."Immigration Always Helps the Economy" Is Only Half TrueThe slogan says more immigration means more growth. The real economics is more interesting than the slogan or its opposite, and who comes matters most.College, Apprenticeship or Trade School, How to Compare Your OptionsThree roads lead to good work for different people. A table compares four paths on time, cost, pay while learning and licensing, and says who each one suits.What America's Shop Class Lost, From Smith-Hughes to the Perkins ActWashington built vocational education in 1917, then drifted to college for all. The story from Smith-Hughes to Perkins, and what it means for families.Adam Smith Was Never the Cheerleader for Big Business Liberals ClaimCritics say free-market conservatives just carry water for corporations. Adam Smith's own pages show why pro-market and pro-business are different things.How the jobs numbers work, answered in eleven questionsEleven plain answers on unemployment, U-3 and U-6, the two surveys, participation, revisions and seasonal adjustment, so you can read the report yourself.The Small-Business Owner's I-9 Hiring Checklist, Line by LineEvery employer must complete the I-9, and most get tripped by the same few mistakes, so here is the checklist by stage, with a reason for each item.Smoot-Hawley in 1930 and the Tariff Lesson Republicans Should Know WellThe most famous tariff in American history was a Republican law. What it did, what the economists argue about, and the doctrine it teaches us.The best case for raising the minimum wage and where it breaksThe strongest argument for a higher federal wage floor, stated fairly and answered point by point, with the Earned Income Tax Credit as the alternative.The license you need to braid hair and the jobs it quietly killsOccupational licensing grew into a gate on roughly a quarter of American jobs. Who it keeps out, what the research says, and the reform that is spreading.How to ask for your Sabbath at work and what Groff v. DeJoy changedA step-by-step playbook for asking an employer for a religious accommodation, and what the Supreme Court's unanimous 2023 ruling in Groff v. DeJoy changed.How a small business owner can fight a federal rule before it is finalA step-by-step playbook for finding a proposed federal rule, filing a comment that agencies must answer, and using the laws that give small firms leverage.Seven Right-to-Work Myths From Both Sides, Tested Against the RecordBoth camps in the right-to-work fight over-claim, and a conservative who wants to win should know which claims on his own side will not survive a fact-check.What Right-to-Work Means and How Taft-Hartley Let States DecideRight-to-work is a state law that exists because Congress let states choose in 1947. What it bars, what it leaves alone, and how Janus changed public jobs.A mortgage worksheet that shows what two points of interest really costWork the payment formula by hand on a $300,000 loan and see why a two-point rate gap costs $366.40 a month, and what really sets mortgage rates.How Paul Volcker broke inflation and why it hurt so muchTwo presidents let a central banker be hated for three years, and that is why the inflation of the 1970s ended. The story, the cost and the lesson.The Federal Reserve in plain English and the levers it really holdsHow the Fed was created, who sits on its boards, what its tools really do, what it cannot do, and how Congress can still hold it to account.Embargo, Volcker and Foreclosure Is What Really Caused the 1980s Farm CrisisThe 1980s farm crisis was a debt crisis, not one villain. A tour from the 1970s land boom through the embargo and the Fed to the 1987 credit act.McKinley and Bryan in 1896 Compared as Two Ways to Run for PresidentOne man crossed the country by train and the other stayed on his porch, and the porch won. A side-by-side look at money, message, machine and map.Seven myths about Herbert Hoover the do-nothing presidentHoover tried more to fight a depression than any earlier president. Seven common claims tested against the record, and what conservatives should learn.Edward Brooke won Massachusetts as a Republican and changed public housingBrooke was the first Black senator elected by popular vote, and he used the seat to change the law on fair housing and public-housing rents.From Diocletian to Nixon, Every Price Control Ends the Same WayFrom a Roman emperor in 301 to a Republican president in 1971 to the oil lines of the 1970s, price controls keep producing shortages, and here is why.Proposition 13 and the Tax Revolt That Rattled Every StatehouseIn June 1978 California voters capped property taxes and every statehouse took notice. The story, what the measure did, who copied it, and the criticisms.Running for city council, what the job covers and how to win a wardZoning, policing, property taxes, water bills and permits are decided at city hall. Walk through the job, the forms of government and a ward voter-contact plan.