What is Meant by "Broadening the Tax Base"?
My prior post is posted and being discussed at Logarchism.com . One of the questions that came up was the following: I have a question to which you might not know the answer, since it is a matter of a phrase used by someone you quote. Feldstein says, The key question raised by the Romney plan’s critics is whether this revenue loss can be offset by broadening the tax base of high-income individuals. I don’t understand what is meant by the phrase “broadening the tax base of high-income individuals.” Do you have any idea what he meant by that? My reply was as follows: That's a very good question and points to one of the problems that I have with the Romney tax plan. Romney is very explicit about what goodies his plan offers. On this web site , he lists the 20 percent cut in all marginal rates, elimination of AMT and estate tax, and other items. All that he says there about broadening the tax base is "America’s individual tax code applies relatively high marginal tax rat...