Taxation

The Willow Bend Deal

The Arena and the Legacy of Bad Public Financing Deals Plano ISD just locked up to $250 million of future school-tax growth for a Dallas Stars arena without a public vote. Plano ISD just agreed to hand over up to $250 million of future school-tax growth to help build a new arena for the Dallas Stars at the site of the dying Willow Bend Mall on the city's west side. . The board approved the deal. The city council signed off. No public vote was required. On paper the arrangement looks tidy. In practice it locks away money the schools could…

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Here’s to Better Ideas

Repeal the Surtax A $5,000 check is a rally line. Killing the 3.8 percent investment tax is a statute. Dallas, Wednesday night. The line was built for the hall. “If the Republicans win,” the president said, “you win with us and you get $5,000.” He called it a Trump Dividend. Spend it in America. Pretend he is on the ballot one more time. I have a counter-proposal. It is not a check. It is not conditioned on an election night. It does not require the Treasury to invent a mailing list of a quarter-billion adults and then police where they shop.…

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Expand the Child Tax Credit

Tax Parents Less. Do Not Put Them on the Dole. N.B. This follows "A Parent is Not a Vendor." If policy can pay a parent for being a parent, it can pay a person for being a person. That is the sentence the Vance draft cannot survive. A future Democratic administration will not need to love stay-at-home marriage. It will keep the payee and delete the adjectives. It will call the marriage gate discriminatory, relax the hours test, raise the income cap, and tell Congress the Child Care and Development Fund is oversubscribed, which it will be. Ro Khanna already wrote…

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A Parent is Not a Vendor

Do Not Put Parents on the CCDF Ledger A stay-at-home parent is not a vendor. A Clinton-era work pot is not a family stipend. Do the family work in the tax code. The Trump administration is drafting a rule that would let some married stay-at-home parents collect money from the Child Care and Development Fund. Vice President JD Vance has made the idea a priority. The draft invents a new category called "parent-based child care." One spouse works at least thirty-five hours a week. The other stays home with the child. The family meets the income test. The check, about nine…

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From Branches to Booms

A Bold Vision for Capital Gains Tax Reform The past week delivered a stark reminder that markets are still groping for solid ground. Gold, after climbing toward $5,300 an ounce in a frenzy of inflation-hedge buying, cratered to around $4,890-a 10% wipeout in a matter of days. Silver suffered far worse, plunging roughly 35% from peaks above $130. Bitcoin tested $78,000 after teasing six figures, Ethereum followed suit, and equities took their lumps too: the Russell 2000 shed more than 7%, Nasdaq proxies dropped 4–5%, and the broader indices followed in lockstep. One widely shared thread on X captured the carnage…

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Tax the Fruit, Not the Branches

A Supply-Side Answer to the Deflation Warning Anthony Pompliano dropped a clear warning this week. Truflation’s real-time dashboard shows U.S. inflation at 1.21% year-over-year-down sharply, well below the Fed’s lagging 2.7% BLS print for December. He’s been saying it for months: the real threat isn’t runaway inflation. It’s deflationary pressure from weak demand, delayed purchases, and a middle class that’s pulling back. Inflation is now at 1.2% according to @truflation.For the last year I have been warning that deflation was a much bigger risk than inflation.The Federal Reserve completely screwed this up.They must cut rates aggressively now! pic.twitter.com/WZ6dpfjYS5— Anthony Pompliano 🌪…

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Making the American Dream Affordable Again

Embracing the RSC Plan for Lower Costs and Stronger America In Texas, where families like mine are still feeling the sting of high home prices, energy costs, and healthcare bills after four years of Biden-Harris policies, the American Dream has seemed farther away than ever. But the Republican Study Committee (RSC) has delivered a powerful response: the “Making the American Dream Affordable Again” framework for the next reconciliation bill. Unveiled on January 13, 2026, this isn't just another wish list-it's a vetted, Byrd Rule-tested menu of nearly 70 policy options, with about 70 percent already introduced as bills or passed by…

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From Obamacare Failures to GOP Fixes

The GOP's Path to Overhauling Democrats Failed Health Legacy Congress has adjourned for the holiday recess without extending the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits, which expire on December 31, 2025. This locks in a reversion to the original 2010 ACA framework for 2026 marketplace plans, with projected sharp premium increases and potential coverage losses. Republican alternatives-the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act (H.R. 6703) (passed by the House on December 17) and the Health Care Freedom for Patients Act of 2025 (S. 3386) (stalled in the Senate)-represent market-oriented responses but do not include subsidy extensions. Critically,…

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A Better Option Than Rebate Checks

A Case for Capital Gains Tax Relief Over Tariff Rebate Checks: Igniting Sustained Economic Growth In the wake of President Donald Trump’s bold tariff agenda, generating over $214.9 billion in 2025 alone, the United States stands at a pivotal economic crossroads. Two competing proposals have emerged to harness this tariff windfall: Trump’s $1,000-$2,000 rebate checks for American households, funded by tariff revenues, and a capital gains tax cut, as advocated in my columns "Friday Forecasting" and "It's Time to Cut the Capital Gains Tax", featuring tiered rates for U.S. stocks and a flat rate for foreign gains, as outlined in the…

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Fisking Sen. Ron Johnson’s 2025 Budget Reconciliation Analysis

Analysis of "FY 2025 Budget Reconciliation: Facts, Figures, and Analysis" by Senator Ron Johnson Introduction Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) authored the "FY 2025 Budget Reconciliation: Facts, Figures, and Analysis" report, released on June 18, 2025, which examines the U.S. federal budget’s fiscal challenges. Notably, Johnson is also recognized for producing an immigration chart that gained historical significance during a July 13, 2024, campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Former President Donald Trump, unscripted, turned to reference this chart on illegal immigration-originally shared with him by Johnson during an April 2024 plane ride-when he was grazed by a bullet in an assassination attempt.…

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