Politicians have frequently directed harsh rhetoric toward particular corporate taxpayers that earn high profits. At times, this rhetoric has been accompanied by policy proposals that single out a narrow set of profitable taxpayers for disparate treatment. Perhaps the most notable example is the war against Big Oil.

In a just-published piece in Tax Notes, AEI economists Kevin Hassett and Alan Viard explain how targeted tax increases on big oil companies pose significant risks to the economy.

This book by Alan Viard and Robert Carroll proposes to completely replace the income tax system with a progressive consumption tax.

The European Union (EU) has announced plans to levy a tax on airline emissions for all planes landing and taking off from EU airports. This tax would be calculated not only based on mileage flown in EU airspace but also for the entire length of the flight (thus, Chinese and Japanese airlines would be taxed for an entire journey from Beijing or Tokyo).

A critique of a court decision striking down Colorado's law to collect use tax from out-of-state sellers.

Here is another good news/bad news column about the 112th Congress.

The same money can't be spent twice. ObamaCare tries to do precisely that, and the government will have to borrow the difference.

Growth can be promoted by moving from income taxation to consumption taxation and the research tax credits can be improved.