Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Many economists and public plicy researchers have found that cigarette taxes reduce smoking. This means that cigarette taxes must be good for your health…right? A study by Baum (2009) claims that cigarette taxes may improve health, but not by as much as previously thought. The paper finds that increasing the cigarette tax decreases smoking, but…
What are the tax implications of John McCain’s health care proposal? The key components are that health insurance will no longer be tax deductible but individuals will receive a $5000 credit of purchasing health insurance. Let’s work out some simple math to see how this will impact the life of a typical American. Example with…
What is AIG doing with the bailout money it has received from the federal government? The Wall Street Journal reports that AIG is “…using taxpayer money in its effort to soften new federal controls over the mortgage industry.”
Last year, I wrote a blog post about how Los Angeles could fix its traffic problems. Today, the San Diego Union Tribune reported that traffic has decreased between 3.3% and 9.1% during the week and between 5.2% and 11.9% on the weekends. How has San Diego accomplished this? Higher gas prices are the reason. A…
Pierre Dubois of VoxEU has a suggestion to reduce obesity rates: a junk food tax. Dubois claims that a junk food tax of 5% would reduce junk food consumption by 15% and thus reduce obesity. While junk food is not healthy, it offers the most calories per dollar. Thus, a junk food tax would fall…
According to optimal tax theory, taxes should be highest on relatively inelastic activities. For instance, most men work full-time and and the tax rate does not affect this. On the other hand, it has been should that the labor supply of women is much more sensitive to wages and income tax rates. If we follow…
Earlier this month, I wrote about how the flat tax has been gaining popularity in Russia and Eastern Europe. It seems that businesses like the flat tax as well. The Cato-at-Liberty blog notes (“…Losing Business to Flat Tax Neighbors…“) that many businesses are leaving ‘high tax-Hungary’ for its flat tax neighbors. According to a Budapest…
According to the Wall Street Journal (“Flat Tax Fred“), Presidential-candidate Fred Thompson has recently proposed instituting a flat tax in the United States “…with two tax rates of 10% and 25%.” One country has already beat Thompson to the punch: Russia. In 2001, Russia enacted a flat tax rate of 13%. The reform has been…
“Medicare adopted its [Medicare as a Secondary Payer] MSP policy in 1982, effective January 1, 1983. This legislation states that for individuals working at firms with 20 or more employees, and otherwise eligible for Medicare benefits, Medicare serves as a secondary payer for health care expenses. The employer’s health insurance is the first payer. Because…
Jason’s Furman’s blog post on The Economist‘s Free Exchange blog not only has a clever title, but makes a clear argument against an estate tax and in favor of a inheritance tax. Philosophically, this amounts to taxing those who inherit wealth (Paris), but not those who general the wealth (Britney). He cites a paper by…