Smart tax reform could shrink the government.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) could not only push forward a more fair, pro-growth tax code but also shrink the government's role in the economy, Marron says.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) could not only push forward a more fair, pro-growth tax code but also shrink the government's role in the economy, Marron says.
Max Baucus and Dave Camp, leaders of the Senate and House tax-writing committees, are on the road promoting tax simplification. One goal: cleaning out the mess of deductions, exclusions, credits, and other tax breaks that complicate the code.
Done well, such house cleaning could make for a simpler, fairer, more pro-growth tax code. It could also shrink government鈥檚 role in the economy. Eric Toder and I explore that theme in a recently released paper, Tax Policy and the Size of Government. Here鈥檚 our intro:
Eric and I first presented this line of reasoning in How Big is the Federal Government? in March 2012. Our latest paper, recently published in the conference proceedings of the National Tax Association, is a pithier presentation of those ideas.