I think if that's your position you end up defending a very hard line-drawing problem. Many, many policies can sometimes have a meaningful effect on money supply, money demand, or bank stability. Consider taxes on bank capital, e.g., or beneficial ownership disclosure for foreign shadow banks.
I have no sympathy for the admin's goals here, but their position isn't as crazy as their usual stuff. Does the UK arrangement between Exchequer & BOE work in your view? Is FSOC consistent with structural independence? SEC supervision of money funds? These seem like hard q's.
Hey I know an awesome plan for how to do this at the U.S. federal level without tripping over the 16th Amendment.
rooseveltinstitute.org/wp-content/u...
That influence stems from how wealth is built and allowed to accumulate over time.
Wealth concentration is a tax problem: extreme fortunes are deferred, inherited, and held in trusts.
@bdgesq.bsky.social’s research looks at how to tax the ultrarich so wealth can’t simply compound out of reach.
Bob's also shows that the effective annual tax rate on someone like Bezos falls rapidly the longer they hold their wealth. That suggests we could just add a tax at sale that would bring their effective rate back up to 23.8%. Oh, hey, I wrote that book!
rooseveltinstitute.org/wp-content/u...
An awesome explanation from Bob Lord of why an income tax should reach investment gains as they accumulate over time, not just when they're sold (you'll also learn about the Rolling Stones and a new word for me, "hectobillionaires"):
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Yeah I get why it can be an effective political strategy. My argument is we should have judicially-enforceable remedies that make inherent contempt enforcement via Dirksen snack machine unnecessary, as it sucks and obstructs my access to the Pop Tarts.
The deeply inadvidable and problematic nature of congressional use of force against other government officials is exactly why judges should make judicial remedies timely and effective. If that argument falls on deaf ears, ok, I become open to other alternatives.
Oh, good, let's revisit my old beef with Josh! I think this is a dead end. Subpoenas, ok, fine. Once that's over, you're...what, shackling people to the snack machine in Dirksen? Sending armed officers to arrest other people with armed guards is a v, v bad idea & how >0 Roman civil wars started.
Every tax dollar grandma is putting into one pocket, DoorDash is happily taking out the other in the form of lower compensation.
It would be a bit of a shame because Grand Army Plaza is on my Mt Rushmore of "oh wtf is this?!" roadways/traps for the unwary, with Harvard Sq, Dave Thomas Circle (z"ll) and the entire town of Somerville, Ma.
Posting this Hill op-ed on the #billionairetax for Darien, who refuses to do social media:
thehill.com/opinion/fina...
"Elmo is weak on crime" - Elmo
So, speaking as the guy who wrote the most recent insider trading regulations in the US, here is the thing about insider trading/meme stock equilibria: They work...until all of a sudden, they don't.
So, uh, where do I go to short this company?
Posting this Hill op-ed on the #billionairetax for Darien, who refuses to do social media:
thehill.com/opinion/fina...
When toadies need actuaries:
Will the guy who is extorting you for your loyalty live long enough to deliver on his promise of impunity?
Not so different from junta game theory, really. It's why rebels offer plum positions to defectors. Maybe some lessons there?
I have an obvious interest in this argument but don't think it's fair to characterize the "entire field" based on these charlatans. Plenty of supposedly rigorous fields look the other way for prominent people who are full of b.s. I have very long of list of econ work I'd put in that category e.g.
We're less than a month out from the National Tax Association’s 56th Annual Spring Symposium in Washington, D.C. Check out this year's agenda and register today to secure your seat!📜
📍 Washington, D.C. | May 7–8, 2026
Registration here ⬇️
ntanet.org/2025/12/56th-annual-spri...
Hmm, Between Two Fires is on the bestseller list this week. Hoping that's a coincidence.
Means testing is a tax that only falls on poorer households, in case you were wondering why it is a popular policy option with many conservatives.
"Diverging assumptions" is a polite way of saying that Hoover wrote a report analyzing a permanent, 5% annual wealth tax, in which the state for some reason decided to only bother to collect the tax in year one. An interesting exercise I guess, but no real connection to the CA Billionaire Tax Act.
I'm fine with living in a simulation, but it is a little worrying that they seem to have hired Thomas Pynchon to write some of the character names.
You didn't even mention the selection bias problem!
Want to know more about the 2026 California Billionaire Tax Act, but don't want to have to click your mouse three times to download a pdf of our report? Now you can save two whole clicks by reading it on ITEP's web site:
itep.org/expert-repor...
A great post on tax policy from Roosevelt pres @elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social
rooseveltinstitute.org/blog/beyond-...
Do you think "indemnification" has any real meaning, except as political cover in case congress does not understand that a central bank can essentially never be insolvent?
Can you explain this crazy 8th Circuit decision for us?
The #NTA 56th Annual Spring Symposium schedule is OUT NOW! 📢
Join us May 7-8 to discuss the 2025 reconciliation law, fiscal sustainability, and the future of tax admin.
View the full program and register here: ntanet.org/2025/12/56th-annual-spri...
The Call for Papers for the 119th Annual Conference on Taxation is now open!
You are invited to submit the following:
🔸 Individual papers to be integrated into sessions.
🔸 Complete sessions of papers (suggestions of groupings).
🔸 Panel discussions (not based on research papers).
