COLORADO SPRINGS — My adopted hometown will soon be the base of operations for a new Netflix movie starring aging elitist hippies Robert Redford (estimated net worth: $170 million) and Jane Fonda (estimated net worth: $120 million). A state economic development commission unanimously voted last week to fork over $1.5 million in taxpayer…

So it's official, according to the U.S. Commerce Department:  This is the worst cyclical economic recovery since World War II.  But look at the bright side:  At least Barack Obama managed to double the nation's debt in just seven years and ran up the worst deficits in history achieving it.  Obama and his apologists habitually…

Hillary Clinton and the media are goading Donald Trump again into releasing his tax returns, suggesting he's unwilling to pay his "fair share." Sadly, even a few of Trump's fellow Republicans are piling on. Their crazy premise: Paying the IRS more than you legally owe makes you a better person. That's nonsense. Donald Trump is wisely resisting…

With our two major parties holding conventions this month and setting agendas for the next four years, now is the perfect time for Americans of all political persuasions to come together and urge comprehensive tax reform. Reforming our outdated tax code is a rare policy that maintains significant bipartisan support. Regardless of political affiliation…

On Monday, Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen gave a somber assessment of the current jobs market, throwing cold water on President Obama's election-year messaging. President Obama has been bragging that America has "the strongest" economy in the world. Right, and pigs can fly. GDP growth under Obama has averaged a stagnant 1.7 percent…

President Obama and GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan want to expand it. Tax preparation companies and illegal immigrants are cashing in on it. Fraudsters have found bottomless ways to exploit it. The earned income tax credit, a bipartisan-supported "anti-poverty" benefit, is robbing honest, law-abiding Americans blind. Originally intended to…

"Saving the economy from a great depression."  That was Barack Obama's response when asked by Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace to identify his "biggest accomplishment."  In Obama's defense, it's not as though he enjoys a Reaganesque litany of accomplishments from which to choose - winning the Cold War, reversing a…

Middle-aged people laid off and unable to find work are taking another way out. They're killing themselves. Suicide rates are soaring, according to federal data released last week. Especially in economically depressed states and job-starved regions like upstate New York. People in need of work are twice as likely to take their own lives as employed…

Bernie Sanders asserts with religious fervor that "the rich" must pay more in taxes.  Except when it comes to Sanders himself, apparently.  It all makes for a satirical tale paralleling George Orwell's "Animal Farm" in which "all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."  Sanders…

Do you or anyone you know insist that wealthier Americans should pay their "fair share" of the nation's taxes?  If so, then there's good news:  They already do.  In fact, according to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data, they pay far more than their fair share.  The IRS recently released its annual summary of tax data…

The Center for Individual Freedom last week ran a full-page print advertisement in The Weekly Standard and Washington Examiner urging Congress to “Get to Work” on passing business tax reform. “With a 35% business tax rate - the highest among the OECD nations - U.S. businesses of all sizes are suffering,” the ad reads. &ldquo…

By now, many Americans are familiar with the public debt fiasco that plagues Puerto Rico. The issue has steadily risen in prominence as the gravity of Puerto Rico’s debt load sets in on the American public. Certainly, the island’s economic mismanagement has taken center stage in Washington, as Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla…

Last week, the U.S. Commerce Department announced that our economy grew just 0.7% in the final quarter of 2015.  Days later, the annual Wall Street Journal/Heritage Foundation Index of Economic Freedom revealed that our standing once again declined last year.  Adding particular poignancy is the way in which those two measures tragically…

Ka-ching! Wednesday's Powerball jackpot soared to $1.5 billion as get-rich-quick mania seized America this week. But you don't need to wait for the drawing to know who'll score the royal payoff. The biggest winner of the multistate numbers game is — drumroll, please — Uncle Sam. Powerball is a government-sponsored gambling racket…

Grass-roots conservatives have many unrealistic expectations and political objectives. And then sometimes they have a good point. The new budget deal arranged by John Boehner and Democrats -- approving $50 billion of additional spending in 2016 and $30 billion in 2017 -- will be split between domestic discretionary programs and defense. Cuts will…

Back when George W. Bush was president, liberals ceaselessly condemned his comparatively mild budget deficits.  When Barack Obama became president and proceeded to compound those deficits, however, they conspicuously went silent.  Recall what candidate Obama had to say about the issue on July 3, 2008.  On that date, the most recent…

At the recent televised debate among candidates for the Democrats' nomination for president, Hillary Clinton declared that "the wealthy pay too little" in taxes and "the middle class pays too much." Some people might wish to argue about whether that is true or not, but no rational argument can be made on either side of this issue…

Donald Trump released his tax reform plan this week. Which is to say, this is Trump’s 2015 tax reform plan. His previous statements deriding Reagan- and Bush-era tax cuts, advocating a wealth surtax, and touting the virtues of a European-style Value Added Tax on goods and services should henceforth be considered null and void. Trump took to…

"Quarterly Increase in U.S. Worker Pay Smallest on Record"  So read the alarming headline of a Bloomberg Business report this past week:  "Wages and salaries in the U.S. rose in the second quarter at the slowest pace on record, dashing projections that an improving labor market would boost pay.  The 0.2 percent advance…

The post-World War II epoch has witnessed greater prosperity and economic growth than any in human history, due largely to free trade under American guidance.  In contrast, the years preceding World War II were characterized by the most severe global depression in history, as nations withdrew behind protectionist barriers.  Centuries before…

In a recent panel discussion on poverty at Georgetown University, President Barack Obama gave another demonstration of his mastery of rhetoric -- and disregard of reality. One of the ways of fighting poverty, he proposed, was to "ask from society's lottery winners" that they make a "modest investment" in government programs to…

So Americans paid $1.4 trillion in income taxes for 2014, a new record high.  For 2015, the expected total is even higher.  It is therefore unsurprising that a majority of Americans consider the amount of taxes they pay "too high" as opposed to "about right," according to a new Gallup survey.  Just 3% - perhaps the…

It's tax season again, and all across the country, taxpayers and tax accountants are feeling the effects of filing a return or an extension so they don't end up on the wrong side of the IRS, get audited or, worse, get put in prison. It's never easy, but this year is even more painful than ever. The U.S. tax code has become so complicated that taxpayers…

Rand Paul is usually a pretty politically savvy guy, but he made a mistake when it came time to announce his presidential candidacy. Had the Kentucky Senator really wanted to prime voters for his anti-government message, he would’ve waited a week and announced his candidacy on April 15: Tax Day. If, like me, you’ve spent the past few weeks…

It is fascinating to see brilliant people belatedly discover the obvious — and to see an even larger number of brilliant people never discover the obvious. A recent story in a San Francisco newspaper says that some restaurants and grocery stores in Oakland's Chinatown have closed after the city's minimum wage was raised. Other small businesses…

If his press secretary is to be believed, President Barack Obama is considering whether to use executive actions to unilaterally raise taxes. “The president certainly has not indicated any reticence in using his executive authority to try and advance an agenda that benefits middle class Americans,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest…

Being a San Francisco liberal means never having to say you're sorry. Or wrong. Take Nancy Pelosi, please. Five years ago, California's genius Bay Area Democrat declared that government unemployment checks generate job growth. Yes, really. "Let me say about unemployment insurance," she told reporters, "this is one of the biggest stimuluses…

Given what we know now, only Barack Obama could attempt to characterize his economic record as one of achievement rather than historic failure.  Only Obama could attempt to characterize his record on deficits, which dwarf those of any other president that preceded him, as a successful one.    And only Obama could characterize…

On Monday, Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) said he would not run for president in 2016. Instead he will focus on enacting policies to spur economic growth as the new head of the House Ways and Means Committee.  “After giving it a lot of thought, I’ve decided not to run for president,” Ryan said in a statement. “Our work…

Throughout our nation's history, Americans have taken justifiable pride in cultivating a domestic climate that attracts innovators, entrepreneurs and businesses from across the globe.  In recent years, however, our tax laws and federal regulations have eroded our international competitiveness.  Paradoxically, that has occurred during a period…