How to design a coherent tax system
Our code is too complex, unfair, and economically harmful. Fixing it will take a heightened level of care.
Our code is too complex, unfair, and economically harmful. Fixing it will take a heightened level of care.
So begins Bruce Bartlett鈥檚聽The Benefit and the Burden, an excellent guide to the promise and peril of tax reform.
Beauty is too much to ask of any tax system, but order and functionality are fair aspirations. As Bruce documents, however, we fall far short. Our code is too complex, unfair, and economically harmful. And it doesn鈥檛 raise enough revenue to pay the government鈥檚 bills.
Bruce takes readers on a tour of many crucial issues in designing a coherent tax system. How should we measure income? Should capital gains count? How should the tax burden vary with income? Are all tax cuts and increases created equal? What can we learn from other nations? Should we tax income or consumption? How should we think about the inevitable politics of choosing winners and losers?
Bruce鈥檚 writing is clear, concise, and crisp. And he provides excellent suggestions for further reading for those who want to delve deeper (I found several items to add to my reading list).
Highly recommended for anyone wanting a pithy introduction to the challenges of designing a tax system we can be proud of.