Greek PM unveils tax breaks for all amid cost of living crisis

Good news! Will Greece be the next Greek tiger like Ireland (Celtic tiger) before?

What! Greece has a government budget surplus!

"Summary

• Tax reform includes lower rates, zero tax for low-income families, youth
• Mitsotakis' party ratings drop amid cost of living crisis, corruption claims
• Protesters demand higher salaries, justice for 2023 train crash victims

...

Strong economic growth, a higher-than-expected budget surplus and more comprehensive tax collection will help finance the package, which will come into force in 2026, Mitsotakis said. ...

The tax reform includes lower taxation by two percentage points for all brackets and a zero tax rate for low-income families with four children and young workers amid tumbling birth rates and rising housing costs. ..."

Greek PM unveils tax breaks amid cost of living crisis | Reuters

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis delivers an annual economic policy speech, at the International Fair of Thessaloniki, in Thessaloniki, Greece, September 6, 2025.

The Unsung Hero of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act: Permanent Expensing

Good news!

"The One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB), signed into law on July 4, 2025 ...

Yet, one of the OBBB’s most powerful pro-growth reforms has gone largely unnoticed: permanent immediate expensing for new equipment investment. ... this change is a critically important step on the long path toward fundamental tax reform.

Permanent immediate expensing allows businesses to deduct the full cost of equipment purchases in the year of investment, rather than spreading the deductions over multiple years. Given the time value of money, it is better to deduct the full cost of a new investment today, as opposed to deducting that investment in smaller increments over multiple years. ...

Temporary expensing has been enacted periodically over the past two decades, sparking short-term investment surges.  ...

However, these surges generally reflected businesses shifting the timing, not the total amount, of their investments. Moreover, the on-and-off nature of temporary expensing causes businesses to incur additional costs, as they  ..."

The Unsung Hero of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act: Permanent Expensing

AfD Steuerreform: Einheitlicher Steuersatz: 25 Prozent für Alle? Wirklich!

Gute Nachrichten! Guter Ansatz einer flat rate tax!

Aber der Steuersatz ist viel zu hoch! Nicht über 20% (oder ein Fünftel des Einkommens)! Besser noch unter 15%! Über 20% ist konfiskatorisch!

Einheitlicher Steuersatz: 25 Prozent für Alle? "Die Alternative für Deutschland stellt diese Woche ihr Steuerkonzept vor, das durch große Vereinfachung, weniger Steuern und mehr Freibeträge Bürger, Familien und Wirtschaft erheblich entlasten könnte. Der Entwurf liegt TE exklusiv vor."

President Trump: "Our Country Was the Strongest" When There Was No Income Tax (until 1913)

It is probably a mistake by Trump to assume that modern government could be mostly financed by trade tariffs. However, e.g. a sales tax would be preferable over an income tax.

Mississippi becomes latest and the 10th state to eliminate income tax with Maria Bartiromo

Good news! Right on!

How to Fight for Tax Cuts with Andrew Mellon and President Coolidge

Maybe here is a guide for President Trump! 😊

"Tax reform isn’t easy, but it is possible. Even dramatic tax reform.

Today, when many doubt that proposition, it’s useful to look back at another tax reform, the tax cut campaign of the 1920s. That tax reform took effort and years. Its heroes include names we have almost forgotten, such as Congressman Nicholas Longworth of Ohio and Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon. The campaign endured many setbacks. But the reform became law, and it did succeed, making strong prosperity possible. Today, with so many doubters, the how and why of that century-ago endeavor, and its heroes, make for a timely story. ..."

How to Fight for Tax Cuts — The Coolidge Review

President Coolidge signs the 1926 tax bill

Why has India Introduced a New Income Tax Bill? With Palki Sharma

Good news! A simpler tax code and more taxpayer rights are a step in the right direction!

$4.5 trillion tax cut envisioned by Republicans in the US Congress

Wow! Good news! Even if it was in the end only $2 trillion!

How much government waste, fraud, and abuse needs to be removed by President Trump?

"The maximum tax cuts that House Republicans envision in the first blueprint for their “one big, beautiful bill,” which would also reduce spending and finance border enforcement. The tax-cut ceiling is below the $5.5 trillion that would allow for extending all tax cuts that expire at the end of this year as well as make room for Trump’s priorities such as tax-free tips and Social Security benefits."

The Wall Street Journal What's news

The $6T Gap Between Trump’s and Biden’s Tax Plans

Very recommendable! This alone is reason enough to vote for Trump! The difficult part is too reduce federal government spending sufficiently!

Steuerzahlergedenktag: Ab Mittwoch arbeitet der Deutsche für sich selbst

Sollte man jedes Jahr daran erinnern, wie tief der Staat in unsere Taschen greift! Enteignung durch den Staat!

Stellen sie sich vor, sie könnten direkt über die guten Zwecke bestimmen für die sie ihr Einkommen ausgeben möchten, wenn die Steuern niedriger wären.

Steuerzahlergedenktag: Ab Mittwoch arbeitet der Deutsche für sich selbst Die durchschnittliche Belastung der deutschen Arbeitnehmer mit Steuern und Abgaben sinkt 2023 geringfügig auf 52,7 Prozent des Bruttoeinkommens. Das zeigen Berechnungen des Bundes der Steuerzahler, die immer wieder auf Kritik stossen.

Why is a flat rate income tax so important?

I am afraid the public discourse about the pros and cons of a flat income tax have become quite mute over time. 

However, a flat income tax should be enshrined in the constitution as a fundamental requirement! Even better, property or inheritance or wealth taxes should be abolished (e.g. because they typically amount to a form of double taxation)!

Government greed knows no bounds! The power to tax is the power to destroy!

Progressive income taxes are obviously unfair! The ability to pay is a thinly veiled pretext for expropriation by government! 

A flat income tax would force our elected lawmakers to focus government expenditures more on the truly needy. It would certainly reduce government waste, fraud, and abuse! The affluent would have less incentive to seek tax shelters or tax havens. More private, voluntary philanthropic and charitable donations would be incentivized!

Besides a flat income tax rate, the definition of income itself and any exemptions need to be carefully reviewed and monitored.

Outcome of major OECD corporate Tax Reform is Uncertain

Recommendable! This OECD tax reform seems to be a globalist monstrosity! Government greed knows no bounds!

Tax competition among countries is very important to keep government greed and Big Government in check!

This Big Government agenda also includes redistribution of corporate profits among countries!

What is the euphemism used here: tax harmonization!

The targeting of large corporations for their allegedly tax evading maneuvers across borders is one of those favorite political games!

The most prominent component is the uniform 15% corporate tax rate! It is supposed to eliminate or significantly reduce tax competition among countries. However, this is almost doomed to failure, e.g. there are too many countries and the incentives for individual countries to circumvent are too high.

Any economist knows that the tax rate is the least important aspect of a tax system. Much more important is how is income defined and how are tax laws enforced etc.

"The OECD tax reform could be seen as the final act of efforts to harmonize international corporate taxation. Just a few years ago, there was a consensus that key challenges such as the taxation of digital companies with no presence in a country should be addressed within the existing system. Now the OECD, with the cooperation of the G20, is preparing to create an entirely new tax code. This restructuring primarily favors large countries, for example by classifying tax competition between countries as fundamentally harmful. ...
However, the agreement reached by nearly 140 states in July 2021 disguises numerous practical problems that are already creating uncertainty, even before it enters into force. For example, the implementation of the so-called Pillar One has stalled seriously. Under this pillar, profits are to be redistributed to countries that don’t have the right to tax these profits under current tax standards. ...
Behind closed doors, there is already speculation about whether Pillar 1 will ever be implemented ‒ not least because the fate of the multilateral agreement in the USA is uncertain. An agreement without the US, the most important country of domicile for large digital companies, is pointless."

Outcome of OECD Tax Reform Uncertain - Avenir Suisse Arguments for streamlined implementation without government policy experimentation

Undeclared swimming pools: their hunt with AI has already brought in 10 million euros for the French tax authorities. Really!

This seems to be a disturbing and expanding trend among national tax authorities! When tax authorities spy on your private property!

When tax authorities use AI to exploit a particular quirk in the tax law, here the presence and declaration of private uncovered swimming pools, then one ought to start wondering what is next. Not to mention that home owners will quickly seek to hide or cover up their pools.

Maybe it is time for profound tax code reforms in the 21st century. Make it simple and straight forward, based on broad tax bases and remove most of the historical garbage, accidents, and quixotic rules.

Piscines non déclarées : leur traque a déjà rapporté 10 millions d’euros au fisc - Le Parisien

Credits: The Batch by Andrew Ng

Should the UK copy Hong Kong post-Brexit?

Yes, the UK needs a Trump like tax reduction and a significant reduction in tax code!

"At over 22,000 pages, the UK tax code is the longest in the world"

On The Massive Deputization Of Businesses For Tax Collection Purposes

Posted: 5/5/2019

Most citizens are probably not even aware that it is myriad of businesses who collect and remit the large majority of tax revenues to the government in most Western (OECD) countries.

Just read U.S. Businesses Pay or Remit 93 Percent of All Taxes Collected in America (published by the Tax Foundation on 5/2/2019)

To quote (emphasis added): “American businesses are critical to the tax collection system at every level of government - federal, state, and local. Businesses either pay or remit more than 93 percent of all the taxes collected by governments in the U.S. Without businesses as their taxpayers and tax collectors, American governments would not have the resources to provide even the most basic services.”

The standard arguments for this kind of arrangement are expediency of tax revenue collection, simplified processing, and a regular, very predictable, continuous flow of tax revenues in short evenly spaced, intervals throughout the year.

However, this process also represents a heavy case of very government power abuse over private businesses. It is way too convenient for government to subject businesses to this form of tax collection. This is another strong reason why politicians prefer to deal with large businesses.

Were individual taxpayers instead of their employers required to pay and remit taxes on a more frequent schedule, then many more citizens would be keenly aware how much of their incomes are actually taken away by government. We would probably see more tax revolts etc.

If a business were to refuse cooperation with the government on tax collection it would probably  be quickly forced to shut down, if a few individual citizens were to do the same, they might find the sympathy of follow citizens …

Just remember the famous quote from Jean Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683):

“The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest possible amount of feathers with the smallest possible amount of hissing”

Our elected representatives have become experts in plucking our money.

A Brief, Government Greed History Of The U.S. Federal Income Tax

Posted: 11/4/2017

Trigger & Motivation

Just recently, I learnt that there was an incredibly high top federal income tax rate of more than 60% as far back as in the early 1930s (What during the Depression?). I remembered there were other times of extremely high income tax rates since the Depression. Then there was a period where the popular narrative has it that the so called super rich (incomes of over $200,000 in 1969) did not pay any federal income taxes and as a consequence, the alternative minimum tax (AMT) was introduced. And much more ...

Is it possible that even the U.S. had significant periods of expropriatory taxes in its history? This would be truly shocking.

The Beginnings

“The origin of the income tax on individuals is generally cited as the passage of the 16th Amendment, passed by Congress on July 2, 1909, and ratified February 3, 1913; however, its history actually goes back even further. During the Civil War Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1861 which included a tax on personal incomes to help pay war expenses. The tax was repealed ten years later. However, in 1894 Congress enacted a flat rate Federal income tax, which was ruled unconstitutional the following year by the U.S. Supreme Court because it was a direct tax not apportioned according to the population of each state. The 16th amendment, ratified in 1913, removed this objection by allowing the Federal government to tax the income of individuals without regard to the population of each State.” (Source 3)

The U.S. Congress enacted an income tax in October 1913 as part of the Revenue Act of 1913.

A Shocking And Sordid History Of Greedy Politicians

Following table shows major changes to the federal income tax code from 1913 to 2013:

	Lowest		Highest
Income Year	Tax Rate	Bracket	Tax Rate	Bracket	Max No. Of Brackets	Notes
2013	10%	<= $0 - $8,925	39.6%	> $388,350	7	Barack Obama
2012	10%	<= $0 - $8,700	35%	> $388,350	6
2004	10%	<= $0 - $7,150	35%	> $319,100	6
2003	10%	<= $0 - $7,000	35%	> $311,950	6
2002	10%	<= $0 - $10,000	38.6%	> $307,050	6
2001	15%	<= $0 - $22,600	39.1%	> $297,350	5	George W. Bush
2000	15%	<= $0 - $21,925	39.6%	> $288,350	5
1997	15%	<= $0 - $20,600	39.6%	> $271,050	5
1996	15%	<= $0 - $20,050	39.6%	> $263,750	5
1995	15%	<= $0 - $19,500	39.6%	> $256,500	5
1994	15%	<= $0 - $19,000	39.6%	> $250,000	5
1993	15%	<= $0 - $18,450	39.6%	> $250,000	5	William Clinton
1992	15%	<= $0 - $17,900	31%	> $51,900	3
1991	15%	<= $0 - $17,000	31%	> $49,300	3	Confiscatory again! George H. W. Bush
1990	15%	<= $0 - $16,225	28%	> $19,450	2
1989	15%	<= $0 - $15,475	28%	> $18,550	2
1988	15%	<= $0 - $14,875	28%	> $17,800	2	Hurrah! Best of times have finally returned
1987	11%	<= $0 - $1,500	38.5%	> $54,000	5
1986	0%	<= $1,835	50%	> $88,270	16
1985	0%	<= $1,700	50%	> $85,130	16
1984	0%	<= $1,700	50%	> $81,800	16
1983	0%	<= $1,700	50%	> $55,300	16
1982	0%	<= $1,700	50%	> $41,500	14	Ronald Reagan
1979	0%	<= $1,700	70%	> $108,300	17	Single taxpayer
1978	0%	<= $1,600	70%	> $182,200	34
1977	0%	<= $1,700	70%	> $182,000	34	Jimmy Carter
1965	14%	$0 - $1,000	70%	> $180,000	33
1964	16%	$0 - $1,000	77%	> $200,000	36	John F. Kennedy & Lyndon B. Johnson
1955	22%	$0 - $2,000	91%	> $300,000	26
1954	22%	$0 - $2,000	91%	> $200,000	26
1953	22.2%	$0 - $2,000	92%	> $200,000	26
1952	22.0%	$0 - $2,000	91%	> $200,000	26
1951	20.4%	$0 - $2,000	91%	> $200,000	24
1946	20%	$0 - $2,000	91%	> $200,000	24	Harry Truman
1944	23%	$0 - $2,000	94%	> $200,000	24	World War II. Absolutely insane
1942	19%	$0 - $2,000	88%	> $200,000	24	World War II
1941	10%	$0 - $2,000	81%	> $5,000,000	32	World War II
1936	4%	$0 - $4,000	79%	> $5,000,000	33	Franklin D. Roosevelt
1932	4%	$0 - $4,000	63%	> $1,000,000	55	Herbert Hoover
1925	1.5%	$0 - $4,000	25%	> $100,000	23	Calvin Coolidge & Andrew Mellon
1924	2%	$0 - $4,000	46%	> $500,000	45
1919	4%	$0 - $4,000	73%	> $1,000,000	57
1918	6%	$0 - $4,000	77%	> $1,000,000	56
1917	2%	$0 - $2,000	67%	> $2,000,0000	21	World War I. Woodrow Wilson
1916	2%	$0 - $20,000	15%	> $2,000,0000	16
1913	1%	$0 - $20,000	7%	> $500,000	7

Legend:

1. The data focus on lowest and highest brackets irrespective of the how taxpayers were classified by tax code (e.g. married couple filing joint returns or head of household etc.)
2. Focus is here is on single taxpayer rates after they were first introduced with income year 1971
3. Before income year 1971, focus is on head of household taxes. Head of household was introduced with income year 1952

Some Lessons Learnt

1. The U.S. was for most of the years since 1913 a highly socialist country as supported by the historical data of the U.S. federal income taxes. For the land of the free, this is absolutely shocking. That the American people have put up with this without rebellion is incredible. Where was the tea party long ago?
2. Urgently needed Constitutional Amendments:
1. No tax rate of any major single tax or any combination of major taxes (e.g. sales & income, state and federal etc.) should be allowed to exceed 30%
2. Minor taxes should be prohibited (e.g. so called sin taxes, fuel taxes etc.)
3. There were only two presidents since 1913 who dared and succeeded in reversing this highly socialist taxation regime: Calvin Coolidge & Ronald Reagan. Both presidents were awarded with incredible economic booms
4. The magnificence of the Reagan Revolution becomes even more apparent when looking at the above table
5. A great tax reform would be a flat rate federal income tax of only 10% for every income and tax payer
6. The extraordinary preferential treatment of married couples filing jointly has been outrageous compared to e.g. single taxpayers. The category of married couples filing jointly should have never been introduced in the tax code! When majorities rule, injustice happens!

Sources:

1. https://files.taxfoundation.org/legacy/docs/fed_individual_rate_history_nominal.pdf
2. https://taxfoundation.org/backgrounder-individual-alternative-minimum-tax-amt/
3. https://www.loc.gov/rr/business/hottopic/irs_history.html