Criticism of the deficit commission report continues apace. Matt Yglesias:
The flipside of the Simpson-Bowles document’s unsound aggregate cap on revenue is that they were very uncreative in their exploration of revenue options. For example, what about a tax on greenhouse gas emissions? The mere fact that the conservative movement is currently engaged in a massive fit of pretending that greenhouse gas
emissions aren’t a problem doesn’t change the fact that greenhouse gas emissions are, in fact, a problem. Taxing them would reduce the quantity of greenhouse gas emissions and help mitigate the problem. It also creates revenue.
In fairness, they do recommend a gasoline tax. It’s a small one, but at least it’s there as a talking point. So I guess they deserve a bit of credit for that.
But that brings up another point: one entire section of the report is devoted to comprehensive tax reform. Why? Broadening the base of the tax system and reducing marginal rates might or might not be a good idea, but it doesn’t really have anything to do with deficit reduction.1 In fact, the only tax-related subject that’s germane to deficit reduction is increases in total tax revenue. The report mainly addresses this in its discussion of reducing tax expenditures, which is a perfectly defensible way of raising more revenue. But why go beyond that to a root-and-branch proposal for tax reform that’s essentially revenue neutral?
As with the entire report, the answer is ideological: this is less a report on reducing the deficit than it is a report on remaking the government in a conservative image. Which, again, is fine, if you’re a conservative think tank and this is what you believe. But it’s not what a report should be if it’s a supposedly nonideological effort to reduce deficits. That kind of report should focus solely on cutting spending and increasing revenue, not on remaking the tax system.
1The co-chairs’ argument — though it’s articulated only glancingly in the body of the report — is that their version of tax reform would spur economic growth and thus help reduce the deficit. This is a defensible argument, but it’s also a highly ideological one. It’s really not appropriate in a document that’s supposedly a neutral take on deficit reduction.
