Porter's VAT :: Smartertimes.com

A friend recently suggested that the Times could increase its revenues by offering readers an option: "you can pay more not to get articles by certain writers."

Under that plan, Eduardo Porter might be a real money maker for the Times. Today his column begins:

What would happen if the government raised everybody's taxes? The fiscal deal struck in the wee hours of 2013 will raise at best $700 billion from higher taxes on wealthy Americans in the coming decade. This is hardly enough to stabilize the nation's debt in the next 10 years, let alone deal with a long-term budget deficit that is expected to mushroom as the population ages and spending on entitlements rises. To make ends meet, both parties agree, spending must be drastically cut…This is not, however, the only option we have. There is an alternative: raising more money from all taxpayers, including the middle class.

This mischaracterizes the fiscal deal. Because the deal included the expiration of the payroll tax cut, the tax increase fell not only on the wealthy but included many middle class and even working poor taxpayers. The column does not acknowledge that point.

The column goes on to call for the imposition of a federal value-added tax, a sales tax on goods and services, at a rate of 16.7%. It's not clear from the column whether this would be instead of or in addition to the existing payroll, income, and state and local taxes, which is another flaw in the crafting of this flawed column.

Related Topics: Taxes