September 7, 2007 by Tom Armstrong.

Mitt Romney is set to propose eliminating taxes on most investment earnings for families that make under $200,000 a year, the first in what his campaign says will be a series of announcements throughout the fall on the specifics of his tax policy.

If cutting taxes on savings and investment is a positive for those earning under $200,000, why not encourage savings and investment for all, particularly those with the greatest marginal propensities to save and invest.

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September 7, 2007 by Tom Armstrong.

Notable from today’s WSJ:

New Jersey citizens have long thought their politicians were smoking something, and now they know for sure. Read on for a lesson in vice, taxes and diminishing returns.

Cigarettes have become every pol’s favorite tax target, and last year Trenton raised its cigarette tax to $2.575 per pack — the highest state levy in the nation. Governor Jon Corzine forecast that the tax increase of 17.5 cents a pack would fetch $30 million in revenue to help balance the state’s $1 billion deficit. Not quite. A new analysis by the Center for Policy Research of New Jersey finds that the state collected $23 million less revenue from tobacco taxes in Fiscal 2007 than it did the year before.

Anti-smoking and health advocates say this proves that high taxes on cigarettes reduce smoking. And they’re partly right: When you tax something, you get less of it. If only politicians kept that in mind when they were taxing work, investment and saving — as opposed to “sin.”

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