Category: economics

At 102%, His Tax Rate Takes the Cake

At 102%, His Tax Rate Takes the Cake

That doesn’t mean Mr. Ross pays more in taxes than he earns. His total tax as a percentage of his adjusted gross income was 20 percent, which is much lower than mine. That’s because Mr. Ross has so many itemized deductions. Since taxable income is what’s left after itemized deductions like mortgage interest, charitable contributions, and state and local taxes are subtracted, it will nearly always be smaller than adjusted gross income and demonstrates how someone can pay more than 100 percent of taxable income in tax.

His tax rate is 102% His total tax on his adjusted gross income was at 20% So…does it make sense to cut his taxes when he rate he actually pays is only 20%?

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you never do find conservatives arguing that we shouldn’t worry about higher tax rates on the rich, because they’ll just work harder to be able to afford those luxury goods; or that a higher inheritance tax probably expands work effort, because it would force the Paris Hiltons of this world to go out and get… Continue reading Untitled

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Reading 21 books about the financial crisis does not sound, on its face, like a fun experience. After you talk to Lo, it sounds even worse. “After each book, I felt like I knew less,” he told me. “For an academic, that’s a pretty frustrating feeling.” What An Economist Learned From Reading 21 Books About… Continue reading Untitled

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the world’s gold stock is about 170,000 metric tons. If all of this gold were melded together, it would form a cube of about 68 feet per side. (Picture it fitting comfortably within a baseball infield.) At $1,750 per ounce – gold’s price as I write this – its value would be about $9.6 trillion.… Continue reading Untitled

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It would, of course, be absurd to think that the white working class is suffering because they live in ghettos which reflect and reinforce their shiftlessness in addition to the idea that our country is too soft on crime and too focused on rehabilitating prisoners. The last time the neoconservative intellectual movement had to explain… Continue reading Untitled

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When businesspeople complain about regulations, you should generally be skeptical. The regulations, after all, are there precisely because some businesses can make more money by despoiling the environment, endangering public health and safety, and threatening the financial system. A regulation that’s not annoying someone by wrecking his money-making scheme would be completely pointless. Bruce Braley’s… Continue reading Untitled

Solar Trade War Looms As U.S. Considers Tariffs On China

Solar Trade War Looms As U.S. Considers Tariffs On China

the U.S. Commerce Department announced it had found “reasonable basis to believe or suspect” that Chinese subsidies of solar panels imported to the U.S. were in violation of international trade agreements.

Do we really need to call trade war when the US has an export surplus in Solar technology?

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The absurdity of this claim is clearly revealed if one considers capital gains that accrue to short sellers, who pay rather than receive dividends while their positions are open. Following the logic of the argument, one would be forced to conclude that short sellers are taxed at an effective rate of negative 20%, thereby receiving… Continue reading Untitled

Justice Unit Co-Chaired by NY AG Eric Schneiderman to Probe Mortgage-Backed Securities – WNYC

Justice Unit Co-Chaired by NY AG Eric Schneiderman to Probe Mortgage-Backed Securities – WNYC

New York Attorney General Eric Schniederman helping to launch the federal government’s new financial fraud unit in Washington, D.C. on Friday after being tapped by the president to co-chair the fraud-fighting unit.