In
Defence of Liberty
The Newsletter of Liberty Institute, New Delhi.
March 1999
Liberty Network News
Book News
THE GREEDY HAND: How Taxes Drive Americans Crazy and What to Do about
It, by Amity Shlaes
(Random House, 1999, HC 255p, $22.95)
Many people imagine that somehow the government’s tax system could
be designed to achieve justice. But Shlaes, a member of the editorial
board of the Wall Street Journal, makes clear this is an impossible dream.
By chronicling the history of income taxes, sales taxes, property
taxes, marriage taxes, baby taxes, school taxes, Social Security taxes,
and death taxes, she affirms that taxes involve nothing more high-minded
than a scramble to rob some people and enrich others. Every tax,
she shows, is aboil with sordid special interest lobbying, legislative
logrolling and other nefarious scheming. It’s the nature of the beast.
She shows how many people are lured into supporting tax breaks rather
than tax repeal, to their eventual harm, and shows how taxes devastate
the poorest among us. Shlaes observes that low-income black males
born after 1959 get only 88 cents back for every dollar they put into Social
Security.
(Reviewed by Jim Powell in Laissez Faire Books. Web site: <www.laissezfaire.org>)
Network News
Project for Economic Education, Mumbai, is organising a National
Workshop on Liberalism at Mangalore, Karnataka, from March 26 to 28, 1999.
Last year three regional workshops were held in Coimbatore, Ahmedabad,
and Rewari, to prepare drafts on some of the broad issues from the liberal
perspective. The aim of this exercise is “to promote greater awareness
of liberalism and liberal values, and influence public opinion on the need
to continue with, and accelerate the economic reforms process.” The Project
was among the many organisations founded by the late Minoo Masani.
The Independent Institute, California, announces the 1999 Olive
W. Gravey Fellowship for the three best essays on the topic "Free trade
is the wellspring of peace". The first prize is US$ 2,500/-Essays of not
more than 3000 words may be submited by students of 35 years of age or
lower. The deadline for submision is May 1, 1999. For more info, visit
the web site <www.independent.org>
The Foundation for Economic Education, New York, announces its
annual summer seminar schedules. Introductory Seminar in Economics, Politics
and History - June 26 to July 1, 1999. Advanced Seminar on the Economics
and Ethics of the State - August 7 - 12, 1999. For more info, visit their
web site <www.fee.org>
Liberty Resources
India Policy Institute: An internet based discussion forum where
Indians and others interested in India debate a wide range of issues. The
basic aim of these discussions is to initiate steps to bring about systemic
reforms to get India out of decades of stagnation and decay. <www.indiapolicy.org>
Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA): One of the oldest independent
think tanks, the IEA has contributed to shifting the spectrum of intellectual
discourse in Britain, on a wide range of public policy issues. <www.iea.org.uk>
Cato Institute: For two decades, it has been advocating for
peace, freedom and progress. Their web site is a treasure house of policy
papers on a wide range of issues. <www.cato.org>
PERC: Pioneers in providing stimulating information on how the
market mechanism, with its emphasis on property rights, can help solve
many environmental problems of today. <www.perc.org>
Liberty Institute: Information about the Institute, its activities,
the internet edition of this newsletter, announcements of upcoming events,
are available on the website. <www.angelfire.com/mi/libertyinstitute>
Please visit the Julian Simon Centre at
259, J-Block, (2nd floor), Saket, New Delhi 110 017. India. Tel:
(91)-(11) 651-2441 / 652-8244
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