The Old Roman by Orlando Plumbe

Liberals for Tax Cuts!

Link: WSJ.com - Liberals for Tax Cuts!.

A strange and astonishing thing is happening in Washington as a House-Senate conference committee debates its final tax bill: Democrats are discovering the virtues of cutting taxes for "the rich." Of course there's a catch, but the political by-play is too amusing to ignore and might even help tax cutting in the future. This new-found liberal demand for tax relief concerns one of their own creations -- the alternative minimum tax. The notorious AMT is the IRS's revenge on taxpayers who dare to take entirely legal tax deductions. Make enough money while deducting for (say) state taxes and the child tax credit, and the AMT sweeps you up lest you pay too little tax. As a friend of ours quips, it should really be called the RMT, for required maximum tax.

Something Worth Drinking To

Link: WSJ.com - High Court Bars State Limits On Direct Shipment of Wines.

Wine lovers may buy directly from out-of-state vineyards, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, striking down laws banning a practice that has flourished because of the Internet and growing popularity of winery tours.

Rediscovering Federalism--Not A Bad Thing

With Congress and the Whitehouse seemingly out of reach, there are fresh signs democrats are rediscovering federalism. Boston.com / News / Boston Globe / Opinion / Op-ed / The federalism flip-flop.

"A movement of well-known liberal Democratic leaders into state government could foretell expansions on the state level of health insurance programs, stem-cell research, gay marriage laws, more expansive reproductive rights laws, and more aggressive environmental and consumer protection legislation."

This is healthy. On scientific issues such as the appropriate amount of government support of stem cell research, it is simply not clear who will be right. So if the different states want to take different directions why not.  On social issues, no one ever has the last word so vive la difference there as well. However, competitive federalism will also lead to the winners and losers among states. It will be inetersting to see if it exacerbates or diminishes the migration trend from blue to red areas.

Cherry Picking Federalism

From Reason: Local Time: Will the Supreme Court save federalism from the conservatives?. Quoting Department of Justice lawyerMark Quinlivan

"States can't selectively assert their independence from the federal government on national issues," Quinlivan declared. "You cannot cherry-pick your federalism."

But both sides of the aisle cherry pick issues for federalism with impunity. Republican's will suggest argue for state rights when faced by incursions by the federal regulatory state or what they perceive to be actvist incursion by the federal courts. then a moment later, propsoe legislation to federalize issue ssuch as gay marriage orthe tort system.  It is intellectually dishonest and bad policy to try to have it both ways.  Either you believe that the states are appropriate laboratories forpolicy  innovation or you don't.