I have continued to read the comments on Jeff Haymond’s blog about progressive taxation, and my own complementary blog, and have decided I should make another foray into this subject to address in more depth the ethical theory of policies such as taxes (but, indirectly, others as well). The question to begin is: Is progressive […]
Archives
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Taxation and Ethics: Further Reflection
16 Feb 2016
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I have been reading with great interest not only my colleague Jeff Haymond’s posts over the past couple of weeks on progressive income taxation (1/29), income inequality (2/3), and a potential proportional income tax (2/9), but also the spirited discussion over the content of the posts. I have been thinking about biblical integration in economics […]
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At the Democratic candidate debate last week, Bernie Sanders was asked how big government should be. His response was illuminating, as was Hillary Clinton’s response to Sanders’ answer. Here is part of what he said: WOODRUFF: “And, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let’s get right to the questions. Senator […]
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Many will write better and more personal things about Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court Justice who died today. I did not have him as a professor. I did not clerk for him. I encountered Scalia as a graduate student getting a first taste of constitutional law. Dr. John Maltese, my professor at the University of […]
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The worst thing the Obama administration is trying to do! They’re coming for my hot rod!
13 Feb 2016
OK, my moral outrage over the Obama administration has come to a new plateau. Is it not enough that his administration has embraced social chaos in the gender/identity wars, continues to support killing millions of unborn children (all of this both home and abroad), and seemingly tries to strangle any possible economic growth ? Now […]
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To Scrutinize or Not to Scrutinize
12 Feb 2016
OK, today I am going to get into a “wonky” mode and address an issue that always has bothered me when my mind is jogged. Today the issue is strict scrutiny. What, you may ask, is that? Strict Scrutiny (SS) is a principle applied by Federal courts that first distinguishes between the importance attached to […]
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It’s time for another book review. I am reading several books but just finished one by Larry Siedentop, entitled Inventing the Individual: The Origins of Western Liberalism (Penguin, 2014, 434 pages). The author has a fascinating and somewhat counterintuitive thesis that what we call “Liberalism” ( I will capitalize the word) was really “created” by […]
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A Biblical case for Proportional (flat) taxation
09 Feb 2016
In my previous post, I suggested progressive taxation was not Biblical, and challenged readers to convince me I was wrong. In the voluminous follow up comments, I didn’t see any Biblical arguments for progressive taxation. However several posters suggested that there was not Biblical support for any method of taxation (regressive, proportional or progressive). In […]
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New Hampshire and the Debate Hypothesis
09 Feb 2016
By any reasonable measure, Marco Rubio struggled, mightily, during parts of the G.O.P. debate on Saturday night. Chris Christie savaged the Florida Senator for his inexperience and his reliance on canned talking points. Rubio responded, to a degree, with canned talking points, thereby demonstrating Christie’s basic critique that Rubio is an empty suit, similar to […]
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The Mosque and the President
04 Feb 2016
OK, President Obama spoke at an Islamic mosque yesterday. I say “so what.” But hear me out. I have no issue with him speaking to any religious group in his capacity as president of the United States. Even what he said, at least as reported, was not particularly problematic. He said for example, that Islam […]