Second of two parts; for release Oct. 27 (762 words) Commentators from the left often refer to the “Bush tax cuts for the rich.” A 5.6-percent surtax on incomes above $1,000,000 has been proposed. The clear implication of the rhetoric is that the rich are under-taxed, are not paying their fair share and that the progressiveness of the federal income-tax code ought to be increased. Before these normative claims can be assessed it is useful to…

First of two parts; for release Oct. 26 (482 words) by Cecil Bohanon, Ph.D. If Ms. Jones has 100 times the income of Mr. Smith how much more tax liability should Ms. Jones incur? Fifty times? One hundred times? One hundred and fifty times? Is there some ratio consistent with so-called “social” justice? Public-choice economists ask a somewhat different question. What are the implications of alternative tax structures for public spending? Consider a proportional tax on income that that…

For immediate release (624 words) “Hell is other people,” quipped Jean Paul Sartre. Perhaps no one knows this better than the homeowner. If you live near fraternity row in a college town, you must endure bouts of drunken revelry in the wee hours. If you live near a hog farm, you must live with harsh odors when the wind blows wrong. And if you live in the beautiful Lake Michigan hamlet of Ogden Dunes, you…

Indiana state and local government collected an average of $3,499 from each man, woman and child in 2010. Some believe this amount too much; others, too little. Regardless, data provided by Indiana University Public Policy Institute indicates that although taxes, like death, are inevitable, the actual amount collected fluctuates and is somewhat resistant to rate changes. Total state revenue is expected to decline as personal income falls, but we observe that Indiana revenue fell more…

For immediate release (633 words) The New York Times reported some uninformed anti-business comments by an Indiana professor of philosophy. “Corporations are a particular threat to truth,”  the professor began. ”  . . . (Their) threat is most apparent in advertising, which explicitly aims at convincing us to prefer a product regardless of its actual merit.” Such rhetoric abets the class-warfare hysteria suddenly infecting our nation, literally from the top down. Here is a straightforward…

For the use of the membership only (650 words) When our friend Ryan Cummins is in town we always learn something. Cummins, a former Terre Haute councilman, comes to Indianapolis to buy flowers and plants for his family landscaping and garden business. Did you catch that? The man actually makes a payroll. At my foundation’s occasional social event, I take mischievous pleasure searching out other politicians so I can introduce Cummins as “a man who…

‘Covering Variable Costs’ in the Daniels Administration (For the membership only, not for publication, quotation or distribution) A friend of mine, a professor, has a fancy way of telling his family that he’s not doing much — “I’m covering variable costs,” he might say from the couch on a Saturday afternoon. He is using the economist’s term for someone engaged in activity unrelated to overhead. We journalists are never supposed to admit such a thing,…

For the use of the membership only (808 words) When the Indiana State Supreme Court behaves as a micro legislature, setting aside Rule of Law to pursue its notion of the sublime, it opens itself to political criticism — and here comes some on the issue of property rights. In a myopic ruling in Siwinski vs. the town of Ogden Dunes, Justice Steven David led the court in deciding that homeowners couldn’t lease their property…

For the use of the membership only (687 words) It seemed a harmless enough idea. The copy editor here, Joyce Preest, who holds a graduate degree in communication, wrote a lament about the recent decision by Indiana educators to abandon cursive or so-called “secretary” writing. Her column, published widely, split families right down the Carolingian minuscule. Mrs. Preest’s own daughter, a deputy prosecuting attorney, charged her with “fogeyism,” which carries a serious penalty in that…

For release Oct. 19 and thereafter (680 words) Rummaging around in my purse for quarters to feed a parking meter Friday, I muttered something under my breath about City Hall. As a result of Mayor Greg Ballard’s 2010 lease agreement with a private vendor, I not only pay more to park on city streets but have to check my watch to determine if it’s free or not. I’m out $10 since the deal took effect.…