Taxes

The New York Times most left-wing economics reporter attacked the Republican tax plan in Thursday’s off-lead story, “G.O.P. Tax Plan Could Reshape Life in the U.S. – More Inequality Likely – Cutbacks in Social Safety Nets, Education and Health Care." Years ago, Peter Goodman penned gloating left-wing, Marxist-tinged reports on economics for the Times, and nothing has changed upon his return:

On her MSNBC show on Thursday, anchor Andrea Mitchell was desperate to stop Republicans from getting a major legislative win by passing tax reform. In a softball interview with Democratic Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, she breathlessly worried: “Do Democrats see any way to stop this bill from passing given the fact that Republicans are in the majority....[and] it looks as though enough…

In June of last year, with much national media fanfare, the City of Philadelphia passed a dishonestly named "soda tax." The levy of 1.5 cents per ounce, which taxes not only sugar-sweetened beverages but also drinks containing "any form of artificial sugar substitute, including stevia, aspartame, sucralose, neotame, acesulfame potassium (Ace-K), saccharin, and advantame" after it took effect on…

On Wednesday, The New York Times editorial board and Twitter account arguably crossed a line into becoming a grassroots advocacy group, encouraging and providing both readers and Twitter followers with phone numbers to call select Republican Senators in order to defeat the Republican tax plan.

Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi was actually grilled by moderator Chuck Todd on numerous sexual harassment allegations made against Senator Al Franken and Congressman John Conyers. She had clearly grown accustomed to the usual softball treatment she has received on the network and complained about not being given enough time to bash Republicans.

The “IRS scandal” is best understood as a significant work of fiction, suggested New York magazine’s Jonathan Chait on Tuesday. As Chait tells it, conservatives’ false belief that the tax agency subjected righty groups to especially exacting treatment “prefigure[d] the Republicans’ own blueprint for the use of government as an implement of partisan domination and revenge.”

At the Associated Press on Friday, economics writer Paul Wiseman attempted to rewrite history, pretending that "trickle down" economics is a term Republicans have used for their economic plans since the days of Ronald Reagan, and that the current GOP tax plan which has made it through the House and is being considered by the Senate is more of the same thing. In fact, Reagan's policies, which were…

In Saturday’s New York Times, reporter Patricia Cohen took the most jaundiced view of the GOP tax-cutting plans with some liberal rhetoric about Republican attempts to pare down the estate tax, colloquially known as the death tax: “Only the Most Wealthy, Including Trump, Gain From Estate Tax’s Repeal.” More tough Times headlines: “Some See a Foundation Of Gimmickry in Tax Bill,” and“Party’s…

Liberal New York Times economics reporter turned leftist economics columnist Eduardo Porter is appalled that Americans refuse to go along with confiscatory tax rates like the rest of the civilized world, and suggested racism is part of the problem, in Wednesday’s “Considering the True Cost Of Keeping Taxes Lower” on the front of the Business Day section. And reporter Alan Rappeport continued his…

Worried about Senate Republicans adding repeal of the ObamaCare health insurance mandate to tax reform legislation, on Wednesday, MSNBC repeatedly claimed that the GOP had stepped on a “landmine” and awakened a “sleeping giant” by taking up the issue. The liberal journalists eagerly predicted that the move would get Democrats “fired up” in opposition. 

On Monday’s Morning Joe, the panel brought on liberal economist Jeffrey Sachs to talk about the Republican tax reform bill currently making its way through Congress. Somewhat predictably, Sachs used his platform to attack the plan as a form of “theft,” the “biggest heist in history,” and a plot by America’s “richest gazillionaires” to “bankrupt” the country for their own personal enrichment.…

On the Fox Business Network on Tuesday, Happening Now host Melissa Francis would not let her Democratic Party guest get away with refusing to answer her question about tax reform. Eventually, she goaded former Clinton adviser Simon Rosenberg into acknowledging that he was refusing to answer her question (then why did he appear in what he knew was a discussion segment?); when she wouldn't move on…

One of the most challenging and important jobs for an economics professor is to teach students how little we know and can possibly know. My longtime friend and colleague Dr. Thomas Sowell says, "It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance." Nobel laureate Friedrich August von Hayek admonished, "The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little…

On Friday, ABC’s Good Morning America touted a new ABC News/Washington Post poll claiming that a majority of Americans oppose the Republican tax plan that was announced on Thursday. The only problem was that the survey was conducted October 29 through November 1, meaning that any questions about tax reform were asked before the GOP actually released the legislative proposal.