Daniel J. Mitchell

Dan Mitchell is the McKenna Senior Fellow in Political Economy at the Heritage Foundation. He is one of the nation's experts on the flat tax and has been the leading international voice in the fight to preserve tax competition, financial privacy, and fiscal sovereignty. His responsibilities at the Foundation include authoring papers, writing editorials, working with the public policy community, and presenting the free-market viewpoint to newspaper, television, and radio media.

Dan's work has been published in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, National Review, Villanova Law Review, Journal of Regulation and Social Cost, Emory Law Journal, USA Today, Offshore Investment, Playboy, Investor's Business Daily, and Worldwide Reinsurance Review. He has appeared on all the major networks, including CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, CNN, and C-SPAN.

In addition to his Heritage Foundation responsibilities, Dan co-founded the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, an organization formed to protect international tax competition. Prior to joining The Heritage Foundation in 1990, Dan served as an economist for Senator Bob Packwood of Oregon. Dan also spent more than three years beginning every day by co-hosting a television show.

Born in Mt. Kisco, NY, Dan Mitchell holds undergraduate and Masters degrees from the University of Georgia. He resides with his three children in Fairfax, Virginia.

Abstract of the speech:

The flat tax is an ideal tax system. Income is taxed at a low rate, it is taxed only one time, and special preferences and penalties are eliminated. This creates the ideal conditions for economic growth and reduces political corruption. A flat tax also has positive unintended consequences. Because it attracts jobs and capital from nations with sub-optimal tax policy, it puts pressure on other jurisdictions to improve their own tax laws. A flat tax also enhances the privacy rights of law-abiding people and minimize tax disagreements between nations.