Republican Tax Reform Briefing on Capitol Hill

20 Jun 2017 | Media

Tax Briefing With Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady

Goodman Institute is hosting a Capitol Hill briefing on the House Republican tax plan with Chairman Kevin Brady, and Boston University economist Laurence Kotlikoff.

Thursday, 06.22.17 12:00 – 1:00 pm RT

In Room H-137 U.S. Capitol

Washington, DC

— This is a widely attended event and lunch will be served. —

RSVP: jeff@marketinstitute.org

Prof. Kotlikoff and Berkeley economist Alan Auerbach are the academic sources of the Ryan/Brady tax bill (“The Better Way”) and they have recently completed an analysis of the plan for the Goodman Institute, using very high level, first-of-their-kind computer models. (Each estimate requires several computers running for 14 hours.)

The surprising results were reported in the Wall Street Journal by Kotlikoff:

  • There is no give-a-way to the rich: the plan is “almost as fair” as the current system.
  • There are no huge deficits: in fact, the plan gains revenue for the government.
  • There is a boost in wages: about $4,000 in additional take-home pay every year for the average household.

Their study will soon be posted at the NBER Working Paper web site and has these features:

  • Their model of how international capital flows respond to country tax policies has 17 sectors and is by far the most sophisticated of its kind.
  • Their method of measuring progressivity is light years ahead of everyone else, including the CBO and Brookings institution.
  • Since they find that burden of the corporate income tax falls on workers, the Ryan/Brady bill does something that may surprise many Republicans and Democrats: It replaces a tax on labor with a tax on wealth.

Media Contact:

Waylon Tate | waylon@jwaylon.com

O 214-613-0073

John C. Goodman is President of the Goodman Institute and Senior Fellow at The Independent Institute. His books include the soon-to-be-published updated edition of Priceless: Curing the Healthcare Crisis, the widely acclaimed A Better Choice: Healthcare Solutions for America, and New Way to Care: Social Protections that Put Families First. The Wall Street Journal and National Journal, among other media, have called him the “Father of Health Savings Accounts.”