Toward a Consumption Tax, and Beyond

Roger Gordon Laura Kalambokidis Jeffrey Rohaly Joel Slemrod* Amid the academic debate about whether a tax based on consumption or income is superior, it has long been recognized that the U.S. federal tax system is in reality a hybrid of an income and consumption tax, with some elements that do not fit naturally into either system. In recent decades tax law changes that altered the nature of the hybrid were…