U.S. Tax Code Hobbled by Inefficiency, Michael Graetz Tells The New York Times
A makeover of the tax code that lowers taxes on corporate profits, as Republicans in Congress have proposed, suggests a need to raise revenue elsewhere. “The revenue loss from the corporate rate reduction is about $100 billion per point over 10 years, so going from 35 percent to 20 percent will cost $1.5 trillion,” adds Graetz. “Where are you going to find the money?”
Graetz, a former U.S. Treasury official who writes widely on national and international tax law and policy, has suggested changes to the tax code that include replacing income taxes on low- and middle-income households with a value-added tax on goods and services.
An analysis that Graetz published in February chronicles a cascade of effects that could result from a proposal to tax imports instead of exports, as congressional Republicans proposed previously.
Further reading:
Michael Graetz on the “Known Unknowns” of House Republicans’ Proposed Business Tax Reforms
Follow the Money: Essays on International Taxation
100 Million Unnecessary Returns
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Posted on Aug. 3, 2017