List of illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Why tax consumption? -- The case for the X tax -- Maintaining progressivity -- Fringe benefits and transfer payments -- Business firms -- Financial services -- International transactions -- The transition -- The nonbusiness sector --...

The authors observe that consumption taxation is superior to income taxation because it does not penalize saving and investment and propose that the U.S. income tax system be completely replaced by a progressive consumption tax. They argue that the X tax, developed by the late David Bradford,...

Good tax policy should be pro-growth, simple, and fair. An income tax, unlike a consumption tax, penalizes saving, which undermines economic growth and introduces complexity. An income tax is often thought to be fairer than a consumption tax, however, because it taxes saving, which is...

We examine the features of taxes and transfers that make them redistributive, emphasizing the distinct roles played by the progressivity of taxes and transfers and their size. A tax system's progressivity measures the extent to which taxes are a larger share of income for higher-income...

The amount of redistribution induced by a fiscal system depends on both its progressivity and its size of a fiscal system. Policymakers can induce any given amount of redistribution through a larger tax-and-transfer system with limited progressivity or through a smaller tax-and-transfer system...

We present a more thorough analysis of the progressivity and regressivity of tax increases and spending reductions. Our analysis highlights an important distinction between low-end and high-end progressivity. We refer to a policy as having low-end progressivity if it places smaller burdens...