President Donald Trump will reportedly name Larry Kudlow head of the White House National Economic Council. For fans of pro-growth policies — deregulation, low taxation and open trade — it's great news for obvious reasons. Kudlow has been a decadeslong champion of these ideas, and those with coherent philosophies tend to offer…

For eight long years, the United States suffered continual decline in economic freedom under Barack Obama.  Anyone seeking causation for the unprecedented economic malaise under his watch need look no further than that measure.  At the beginning of 2009, when Obama entered the White House, the U.S. ranked sixth in the Heritage Foundation…

The governors of New York, Connecticut and New Jersey joined forces last week to announce they're suing Uncle Sam. They're trying to torpedo the new $10,000 ceiling on how much state and local taxes their residents can deduct when paying federal income taxes. The three governors sounded like buffoons, making far-fetched claims that the $10,000 cap…

We experienced eight years of leftist economic policies under Barack Obama, and now a full year of deregulatory, low-tax economics under Donald Trump.  So based upon the accumulated evidence, which one works?  When even The New York Times can no longer deny the inescapable Trump Bump, you know that debate is over.  On January 1, the…

Renters came out winners under the new tax law. For over a century, the federal tax code catered to homeowners and treated renters like second-class citizens. Homeowners have been able to deduct interest on their mortgages and home equity loans, as well as property taxes. Meanwhile, everyone, including renters, footed the bill for these deductions…

According to political analysts, 2018 Democrats will use the just-passed tax reform as a way to argue that the Republican Party is the party of the plutocracy, which is another way of saying that Democrats are going to use the same argument they've been using for the past three decades with varying degrees of success. A number of liberals have claimed…

"Thanks, Obama!"  That was Barack Obama, speaking at a conference of mayors in Chicago last week, sarcastically congratulating himself for America's economic performance in the year since he departed.  Perhaps Obama finds himself desperate for attention and the artificial adoration to which he became accustomed as a candidate…

House and Senate Republicans are racing to hammer out a tax cut agreement that blends the House bill passed on Nov. 16 with the Senate version that squeaked through at 2 a.m. Saturday morning with one vote to spare. Failure to compromise is not an option. They must deliver a final bill to the president for signing before Christmas. The stakes are…

As Congress progresses toward much-needed tax reform, critics dishonestly cite growing federal budget deficits as one rationalization.  The deficit, however, stems from excessive spending, not insufficient taxation.  Just last month, the first month of the new 2018 fiscal year, the Treasury Department reported that the federal government…

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Democratic Party are trying to torpedo the biggest tax cut since 1986. Schumer accuses GOP tax cutters of "messing up the good economy the president inherited from President Obama and hurting the middle class." The senator must think we're stupid. The Obama economy wasn't "good." It was…

Has our economy emerged from the Obama slump to the Trump bump?  It increasingly appears so.  Consider that since World War II, the United States has averaged 3.3% economic growth per year.  Under Barack Obama, however, we never once reached 3% gross domestic product (GDP) growth in a year.  We've gone an entire decade without…

President Trump has unveiled a tax plan to ignite economic growth and simplify the tax filing ordeal. Sadly, top Democrats are responding with divisive rhetoric and lies. Senator Chuck Schumer dismisses the plan as "wealth-fare." House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi calls the plan "giveaways to big corporations and billionaires."…

Left-wing political groups are staging street protests and running television ads to defeat President Trump's proposed corporate tax cut. If they succeed, the big losers will be anyone hoping for a raise or looking for a better job. Top Democrats like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are haranguing about tax cuts for wealthy corporations. MoveOn…

"The role of money in politics is a major problem.  And particularly the role of unchecked anonymous money.  There have been super-PACs in Washington who have been putting up tens of millions of dollars in attack ads for months now." Talk about chutzpah.  That was Jon Ossoff, Democratic candidate for Congress from Georgia…

Hillary Clinton bashes President Trump's budget proposal for its "unimaginable level of cruelty." Almost every Democratic politician, and most mainstream media, are saying the same. Don't believe it. The budget, released last week, dignifies work. It reforms federal anti-poverty programs that have kept people dependent on government, with…

Last November, Americans said they wanted change in Washington.  They also said they wanted to get the economy moving again.  The bold tax reform outline that President Trump unveiled last week shows that he's doing his part.  Although important details remain unaddressed and subject to negotiation with Congress, Trump's plan offers…

If you live in tax hell — New York, Illinois, California, New Jersey or Connecticut — paying your state and local taxes could soon become even more painful. Congressional Republicans and President Trump have plans to lower federal tax rates for almost everyone and simplify tax rules. All good news. But there's a catch for residents…

How would you feel if I told you that we taxpayers are spending millions of dollars every year to fund an army of bureaucrats who advocate higher taxes and bigger government around the globe? That's exactly what the United States does when it sends its contribution to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Last year, as its single…

Could a Berkeley college professor who once advised the presidential campaign of 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry derail the best opportunity for conservative tax reform in three decades?  As implausible as this may sound, it could well prove true if the Republican leadership in the U.S House of Representatives continue to insist…

If you're hunting for a job, hoping for a raise or depending on a retirement account, your future hinges on President Trump's next big undertaking, cutting taxes. And the picture looked rosy until last week. After the election, stocks soared on expectations that tax cuts would ignite an economic boom. The nonpartisan Tax Foundation was estimating…

What will President Trump do after the Obamacare debacle? For 48 hours, some Hill Republicans — and Trump himself — spoke as if the president and the GOP could smoothly, seamlessly and swiftly pivot to tax reform. Then, Monday night, came an Axios report that Trump might choose to pursue an infrastructure bill — the…

The United States continues to suffer the developed world’s highest corporate tax rate, which not only stifles growth and employment, but also incentivizes corporations to avoid or abandon our shores. Fortunately, a bipartisan consensus in favor of lowering rates and simplifying the code has emerged in recent years, and the Trump Administration…

For the past eight years, conservatives and libertarians correctly maintained that Obama Administration policies didn't salvage our economy from the last recession, they instead subdued the natural cyclical recovery that otherwise would've been much more robust.  Obama's agenda of massive federal spending, more regulation, higher taxes, new social…

Regardless of whether one actually voted for Donald Trump, the spectacle of post-election frenzy by the political left and mainstream media offers a fringe benefit for all conservatives and libertarians to savor.  Case in point:  Last week's announcement from Carrier that it had agreed with President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect…

It is especially painful for me, as an economist, to see that two small cities in northern California — San Mateo and Burlingame — have rent control proposals on the ballot this election year. There are various other campaigns, in other places around the country, for and against minimum wage laws, which likewise make me wonder…

Ponder this lopsided statistic for a moment.  The United States, with just 4% of the world's population, generates 64.4% - nearly two-thirds - of all new prescription and biologic drug patents worldwide.  Our nearest individual competitor, Japan, accounts for a distant second at 10.7%, and China merely 0.2%.  The entire combined European…

The choice for voters is clear: a tax cut from Donald Trump or a pay cut courtesy of Hillary Clinton. Trump is promising to slash income taxes to zero for millions of people currently paying them, and to reduce the tax bite on everyone. Clinton isn't cutting income tax rates for anyone. Instead, she's campaigning to hike business taxes, despite warnings…

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) just revealed that this year's federal budget deficit will rise to $590 billion, a depressing 35% increase over last year's already-high $438 billion:  CBO now estimates that the 2016 deficit will total $590 billion, or 3.2 percent of GDP, exceeding last year's deficit by $152 billion... …

The United States accounts for just 4% of the world's population, and our brief 240-year existence remains a blink of an eye relative to other cultures hundreds or even thousands of years old.  Despite that, America stands unrivaled in human history in terms of sheer innovation, prosperity and power.  From powered flight to the moon landing…

On Monday, Donald Trump stopped the wisecracks and laid out a serious plan to jumpstart the nation's limping economy. He proposed tax cuts, regulatory relief, unfettered development of coal, oil and natural gas and fairer trade pacts. One item in his plan will do more than all the others to get the nation working again: cutting corporate taxes. Trump…