Elizabeth Warren economic advisers say the rich pay the lowest tax rates of all. Laurence Kotlikoff says they are wrong. Using the most sophisticated tools available to economists, Kotlikoff finds that among 40-year-olds, the top 1% face a lifetime average net tax rate of 34.5 percent. Yet when positive and negative taxes (benefits) are included, the poorest fifth are facing a rate of – 46.6 percent. For every dollar people in the bottom fifth earn, they get 46.6 cents back from the government.
COMMENTARIES
Kotlikoff: Family Endures 13 Years of Social Security Abuse
Over the past 13 years, Mrs. Jimmy Rogers and her husband have, been deprived of tens of thousands of dollars in Social Security disability and spousal benefits, thanks to Social Security’s acknowledged mistakes. Jimmy has been forced to pay extra Social Security payroll taxes and extra federal income taxes she didn’t owe. And the government is still, to this day, sending them a bill for over $120,000 for disability and spousal benefits that they rightfully received.
Why Not Try Free Market Health Care?
Find a health care sector where there is no Medicare, no Blue Cross and no employer and it is probably a market that works very well. Lasik surgery is one example. Patients get a package price and they know what they are going to pay in advance. Competition works. Over the past decade, the real price of Lasik surgery fell 25%. A similar story can be told about cosmetic surgery.
What is modern Liberalism?
If you ask liberals what they think, they will tell you they are against racism (especially segregated public schools); they favor clean air and clean water; they want to help the poor; they oppose inequality, etc. Yet if you look at what happens where liberals govern, all these problems seem to be worse than they are anywhere else.
What’s Wrong with Private Health Insurance?
Bernie Sanders wants to get rid of private health insurance. Quite a few Democrats, including a number of presidential candidates, seem to agree. But why? What’s wrong with private health insurance?
A lot of things, it turns out. All too often, private health plans have perverse incentives to underprovide to people who get sick — incentives that are created by unwise government regulation. However, government insurance often faces the same incentives and the results can be even worse.
How to Help the Poor
If you are a high net worth individual you probably already know about it. A seminar on the subject at Manhattan’s Harvard Club attracted financial advisors to some of Americas richest dynasties – including the Pritzker and Soros families.
A Solution for Surprise Medical Bills
More than 4 in 10 patients who visit an emergency room or enter a hospital are confronted with bills for out-of-network services – even though the insurance company and the hospital led the patients to believe that their care would be in-network. In some cases, patients have faced charges that are many thousands of dollars. John Goodman’s solution: insurers and hospitals should not be able to claim the hospital is in the insurer’s network if that isn’t 100% true. Otherwise, its false and misleading advertising.
We Already Know What the Trump Health Plan Is
Some people can’t see the forest for the trees. For the past two years the Trump administration has been pushing the limits of executive authority to make fundamental changes in our health care system. If Congress would do its part, the system would be radically different than it was the day Donald Trump was elected president. John Goodman summarizes the most the most important of these changes.
Kotlikoff: The Case for a Carbon Tax
Even climate deniers should be receptive to a carbon tax that is more than offset by reductions in other taxes. The total tax burden would be lower and we would be buying insurance against the bad effects of climate change. So argues Prof. Laurence Kotlikoff in The Hill.
A Health Plan for Donald Trump
President Donald Trump says he wants health reform that will be better than Obamacare, better than what we had before Obamacare, and better than the Democrats’ Medicare for All. And he’s not alone. Numerous surveys show that health reform remains a top priority for Americans, who are concerned about high costs, access, and choice.