Quote:
Originally posted by taxwonk
In most other industrialized countries, businesses and individuals bear a higher tax burden. That's in part because they have federally funded retirement benefits. It's also because these states have much higher welfare benefits. So in essence, whether you look at funding or payment out, broad-based or universal benefits result in a higher tax burden.
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But in most countries, you don't limit the funding of retirement benefits to the wage base, effectively adding that cost to the cost of goods. And to the extent expenses like retirements costs are added to the cost of goods through the VAT, there is a refund on export (virtually all VATs are refundable on exported goods). This puts us at a competitive disadvantage.
I think reform based on leveling the competitive playing field could be something both Rs and Ds could agree on, and they could fix a regressive tax while they are at it.
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