Daniel J. "Dan" Mitchell is a

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

economist and former senior fellow at the

Cato Institute The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.Koch Indust ...

.Board of Directors
''

Center for Freedom and Prosperity The Center for Freedom and Prosperity (CFP or CF&P) is an American nonprofit organization that advocates for flat taxes, territorial taxation systems, and offshore tax havens. The organization and its subsidiary, Center for Freedom and Prosperity ...

'', accessed 2018-01-21. He is a proponent of the

flat tax A flat tax (short for flat-rate tax) is a tax with a single rate on the taxable amount, after accounting for any deductions or exemptions from the tax base. It is not necessarily a fully proportional tax. Implementations are often progressiv ...

and

tax competition Tax competition, a form of regulatory competition, exists when governments use reductions in fiscal burdens to encourage the inflow of productive resources or to discourage the exodus of those resources. Often, this means a governmental strategy ...

, financial privacy, and fiscal sovereignty.

Personal life

Mitchell was born on June 28, 1958 in

Mt. Kisco, New York Mount Kisco is a village and town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The town of Mount Kisco is coterminous with the village. The population was 10,959 at the 2020 United States census over 10,877 at the 2010 census. It serves as a ...

and grew up in

Wilton, Connecticut Wilton is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 18,503. In 2017, it was the sixth-wealthiest town per capita in Connecticut, the wealthiest U.S. state per capita. Officially recog ...

. He graduated from Wilton High School in 1976, and went on to attend the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

in Athens, Georgia. After graduating from UGA in 1981 with a Bachelors in Economics, Mitchell went on to earn a Masters in Economics from UGA in 1985. Mitchell is also a brother of

Phi Kappa Theta Phi Kappa Theta (), commonly known as Phi Kap, is a national social fraternity that has over 35 active chapters and colonies at universities across 21 U.S. states. The fraternity was founded on April 29, 1959, at Ohio State University in Columbus ...

fraternity. Mitchell moved to the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area in 1985 to pursue a Ph.D. in Economics from

George Mason University George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was origin ...

.Daniel J. Mitchell Joins Cato Institute as Senior Fellow
''

'', accessed 2018-01-21.

Professional life

Mitchell’s career as an economist began in the United States Senate, working for Oregon Senator

Bob Packwood Robert William Packwood (born September 11, 1932) is an American retired lawyer and politician from Oregon and a member of the Republican Party. He resigned from the United States Senate, under threat of expulsion, in 1995 after allegations of s ...

and the

Senate Finance Committee The United States Senate Committee on Finance (or, less formally, Senate Finance Committee) is a standing committee of the United States Senate. The Committee concerns itself with matters relating to taxation and other revenue measures generall ...

. He also served on the transition team of President-Elect Bush and Vice President-Elect Quayle in 1988. In 1990, he began work at the

Heritage Foundation The Heritage Foundation (abbreviated to Heritage) is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. that is primarily geared toward public policy. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presiden ...

. At Heritage, Mitchell worked on tax policy issues and began advocating for income tax reform. In 2007, Mitchell left the Heritage Foundation, and joined the Cato Institute as a Senior Fellow. Mitchell continues to work in tax policy, and deals with issues such as the flat tax and international tax competition. In addition to his Cato Institute responsibilities, Mitchell co-founded the

, an organization formed to protect international tax competition.

Publications

Mitchell’s work has been published in the ''Wall Street Journal'', ''New York Times'', ''Washington Times'', ''Washington Post'', ''National Review'', ''Villanova Law Review'', ''Public Choice'', ''Journal of Regulation and Social Cost'', ''Emory Law Journal'', ''Forbes'', ''USA Today'', ''Offshore Investment'', ''Playboy'', ''Investor’s Business Daily'', and ''Worldwide Reinsurance Review''. He is the author of Flat Tax: Freedom, Fairness, Jobs, and Growth (1996), and co-author with Chris Edwards of Tax Revolution: The Rise of Tax Competition and the Battle to Defend It (2008). Mitchell's daily blog i
Liberty – Restraining Government in America and Around the World
It discusses economic issues affecting sustainable freedom and prosperity.

Television appearances

Mitchell is a frequent commentator on television and has appeared on all the major networks, including CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, CNN, CNBC, and C-SPAN. He currently makes a weekly appearances on ''

Street Signs Traffic signs or road signs are signs erected at the side of or above roads to give instructions or provide information to road users. The earliest signs were simple wooden or stone milestones. Later, signs with directional arms were introduce ...

'' on Mondays at 2:00pm ET.

Videos

Mitchell narrates a YouTube video series for the Center of Freedom and Prosperity on topics such as flat tax,

tax havens A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

, and

Keynesian economics Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongly influences economic output an ...

References

External links

Bio
at the Center for Freedom and Prosperity
Bio
at the Cato Institute
Bio
at the

Mises Institute Ludwig von Mises Institute for Austrian Economics, or Mises Institute, is a libertarian nonprofit think tank headquartered in Auburn, Alabama, United States. It is named after the Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973). It wa ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Daniel J. 1958 births Living people American libertarians The Heritage Foundation Libertarian economists Tax reform in the United States Cato Institute people