In the earliest days of the Republic Rome’s taxes were quite modest, and were not direct, but were a property tax or a wealth tax on all forms of property, including land, houses, slaves, animals, money and personal effects. The basic rate was just 1% and sometimes it would occasionally rise to 3%. This was to fund the […]

With the election coming up in France, Le Pen is praising Donald Trump for putting his people first. “The European Union has failed,” she declared. She vows to return control of France also back to the people. Le Pen promises to exit the EU, saying it has utterly failed, and place a strict limitation upon immigration […]

The European Commission is demanding that Apple pay Ireland €13bn in back taxes. They are attempting to retroactively change a tax agreement made with Apple years ago that the EU now says is cheaper than any other member so that’s not fair as it would attract business to Ireland. The EU is clearly trying to impose […]

Within days of Davos, here is the European Commission statement on moving forward to eliminate cash. This is an “Inception Impact Statement” to provide notice to those involved and to ask for comments back. Everything is couched in terms of terrorism, but in fact it is to hunt taxes and eliminate our freedom to privacy […]

COMMENT: Sir, Thanks for all you do. As you have been teaching, do the math. What would be the financial implications of CALIEXIT be? In other words , how much would the rest of the country save if we voted California off the island?  You have already enlightened us to the fact that they asked behind […]

QUESTION: Do you support Trump’s wall? ANSWER: A wall will not end the crisis. You can use boats as well. What are the issues? First, the purpose of the wall is to stop the drug trade. It will put a dent into it, but it will not eradicate it. Second, is the immigration. There are […]

Of course, the left is focusing on how much the “rich” pay while ignoring the entire issue of taxes. When I debated Steve Forbes and Governor James Florio at Princeton University, it was the Democrat Florio who I turned. I simply said that the tax code borrowed from the poor and middle class, handed them […]

About 75% of everything Obama did was by Executive Order bypassing Congress. That means that the next president can easily undo 75% of what Obama did by Executive Order.  On Monday, Trump signed an executive order formally withdrawing the United States from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal keeping his promise from his campaign last year. Trump […]

US-Mexico Border in Arizona COMMENT: Greetings from the other side of the Wall (i.e. Mexico) Mr Armstrong! First, I would like to thank you for what you do, as a young person committed with helping the world thrive I cannot tell you how empowering it was to discover your work and get to know your story, […]

Kenneth Rogoff is a Professor of Public Policy and Economics at Harvard University. Rogoff calls critics of negative interest rates “ignorant” despite the fact that negative interest rates have been used since 2008 without any success. He had the audacity to say that people should not look at their short-term personal losses, but rather look at the long-term vision […]