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Article snippet: Before I get to what I wish for tax reform, let me start with what I fear: unpaid-for tax cuts pretending to be real reform. With the national debt at near record levels and no need for fiscal stimulus given where we are in the business cycle, there is no economic reason whatsoever for tax cuts that aren’t paid for instead of thoughtful, pro-growth reforms that are. Sure, there are plenty of fiscal free-lunch arguments that we should just have tax cuts because paying for them is too hard, but that is the kind of thinking that brought us the massive debt we already have and would lead to deficit-financed cuts that could lead to more harm than good. Next is what I would like to see out of tax reform, but probably won’t, this time around at least: a carbon-corporate tax swap. Growth-enhancing corporate tax reform should be part of revenue neutral (or increasing) and distributional neutral (or, in my opinion, progressive) reforms. Put another way, this is not an effort to shrink the financing of the government or give CEOs tax breaks, but rather to grow the economy and make sure those gains are shared. To make up for the lost money, my first choice would be from a carbon tax because of the many external benefits that could provide along with a high revenue stream. As any economic teacher will tell you: tax what you want less of, not what you want more of. A carbon tax in this country is long overdue. To achieve at the very least distributional neutrality, some... Link to the full article to read more