The Case for Taxing Consumption

Authors

Murray L. Weidenbaum, Washington University in St Louis

Files

Publication Date

4-1-1992

Series Information

Occasional Paper 103

Publisher

Center for the Study of American Business (CSAB), Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130

Description

The governments of most industrialized nations, especially in the European Community, use consumption taxes far more than the United States. Yet a low-saving, slow-growing economy such as the United States would benefit greatly from shifting the national revenue system from taxing income to taxing consumption. That change would provide a powerful incentive to increase the nation's saving and investment and, therefore, economic growth and living standards. This report examines the pros and cons of consumption taxation and also analyzes the major policy alternatives to structuring a new tax of that type.

Keywords

Consumption Tax, Savings, Tax Code, Consumption, Value-Added Tax

Disciplines

Economics | Public Policy

Comments

The Center for the Study of American Business (CSAB), 1975-2001, is the predecessor of the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy at Washington University in St. Louis. Permanent URL: http://dx.doi/org/10.7936/K7862DN1

DOI

doi:10.7936/K7862DN1

Recommended Citation

Weidenbaum, Murray L., "The Case for Taxing Consumption", Occasional Paper 103, 1992, doi:10.7936/K7862DN1.
Murray Weidenbaum Publications, https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/mlw_papers/119.