All Roads Lead to VAT
Volume 89, No. 2, Winter 2017
By Martin A. Sullivan [PDF]

This Article—a response to Harry L. Gutman’s The Saga of Unfulfilled Business Income Tax Reform—argues that three questions must be answered for the value-added tax (VAT) to garner public support from Congress. First, is the VAT a good tax? Second, will the revenues from the VAT be put to good use? Third, as a political matter, is the VAT a feasible alternative for the United States in the foreseeable future? The Article answers these questions and ultimately concludes that, as Congress searches through tax reform options it has thus far chosen to ignore, it will eventually realize that Gutman’s or a similar plan is the logical choice.

Martin A. Sullivan, Chief Economist, Tax Analysts; Ph.D., Northwestern University; B.A., Harvard University

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