Should-Read: Pro-Growth Liberal: EconoSpeak: Paul Ryan’s Two-Faced Comments on Auerbach’s Tax

Should-Read: Pro-Growth Liberal: Paul Ryan’s Two-Faced Comments on Auerbach’s Tax: “Page 15 of the tax portion of A Better Way…

…This Blueprint does not include a value-added tax (VAT), a sales tax, or any other tax as an addition to the fundamental reforms of the current income tax system….

A few lines later….

The focus on business cash flow… is a move toward a consumption-based approach to taxation….

So is the Destination-Based Cash Flow Tax an income tax or a consumption tax? And why is Speaker Ryan contradicting himself within the same page?… Reuven Avi-Yonah and Kimberly Clausing… wondered why Speaker Ryan does not simply call this a consumption tax with a labor subsidy. The answer might be simply politics—Speaker Ryan has always wanted to get rid of the corporate profits tax replacing it with a consumption tax. But of course Speaker Ryan does not have the political courage to just say so. No wonder President Trump finds this too confusing. The tax’s main political proponent has never been exactly honest about what his agenda is…

January 24, 2017

AUTHORS:

Brad DeLong
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