The Largest Single Decision A Government Makes.

Tax policy determines what behavior is encouraged, what is penalized, and how the cost of public goods is distributed. American tax policy has been amended in pieces for forty years without a coherent redesign — additions in 1986, 2001, 2003, 2017, all bolted onto a 1954 chassis. The proposals here aim at structure: reducing the bottom income brackets so that ordinary labor is taxed less, adding a federal consumption tax on non-essentials, converting the estate tax into a recipient-based dynasty tax that targets accumulated wealth rather than the moment of death, and closing the most-abused loopholes to fund the transition. The result is a system that taxes labor less at the bottom, consumption modestly across the board, and economic rent and inheritance more.