White House Leaning Towards Consumption Tax

Kristin Forbes of the Council of Economic Advisors spoke at an economic policy conference hosted by NABE on March 21. She told the audience that our tax system relies too heavily on the taxation of capital income. According to Tax Analyst, she revealed a definite White House interest in moving to a more consumption-based tax system.

Forbes has also written this report on the challenges facing U.S. manufacturing. To her credit, she is an advocate of free trade and more investment – even though some of her recommendations sound like Karl Rove talking points.

Update: Lawrence Kudlow covers the Dick Cheney trip to Bakersfield and writes:

Call it a coincidence, but the investor class knows full well that taxing jobs and the economy cannot be a good thing for profits and the stock market.

This comment is particularly bizarre on the Club for Growth’s Social Security blog – where their real agenda is to convert payroll contributions into a backdoor employment tax increase. So is Larry for shifting the tax burden towards workers and away from capital income or is he against it? Or does Larry even understand this simple question?