A Tale of Two Tax Codes: The Fair Tax Debate | John Cochrane and Grover Norquist

Hold These Truths with Dan Crenshaw

Dan Crenshaw

Politics, Energy, Healthcare, News, World, Society & Culture, Regulations, Finance, America, Freedom

4.6 • 16K Ratings

🗓️ 4 April 2023

⏱️ 73 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Tax season is here, and as we subject ourselves to this perennial torture it begs the question: is there a better way to raise the money we need to fund the government without the massive compliance costs and inefficiencies? Two tax and economics experts, John Cochrane and Grover Norquist, join Rep. Crenshaw to answer that question. They take a close look at costs and benefits of the controversial Fair Tax and consumption taxes more broadly, how the U.S. tax system is one of the most progressive in the world, the political reality of tax reform, and what a perfect tax code starting from scratch would look like.

John Cochrane is an economist and Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. His latest book is “The Fiscal Theory of the Price Level.” His blog is the “the Grumpy Economist” at johnhcochrane.blogspot.com and he also cohosts the Good Fellows Podcast with General H.R. McMasters and Nialls Ferguson. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnHCochrane.

Grover Norquist is president of Americans for Tax Reform, a taxpayer advocacy group he founded in 1985 at President Reagan’s request. Follow him on Twitter at @GroverNorquist.

Transcript

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0:00.0	We hold these truths to be self-evident.
0:02.0	That all men are created.
0:04.0	As a member of Congress, I get to have a lot of really interesting people in the office.
0:07.3	Experts on what they're talking about.
0:08.9	This is the podcast for insights into the issues.
0:11.6	China, bioterrorism, Medicare for all, in-depth discussions.
0:16.0	Breaking it down into simple terms.
0:17.9	We hold these truths with Dan Crenshaw.
0:24.3	Welcome back everybody. It's tax season.
0:26.9	And as that season approaches, we are faced with that perennial question.
0:30.5	Why do we subject ourselves to this torture each and every year?
0:33.6	Isn't there a better way to raise money for the federal government without these massive compliance costs and inefficiencies?
0:39.2	I mean, can you fill out your taxes?
0:40.4	Or do you have to pay somebody to do it?
0:42.8	While the Tax Guets and Jobs Act that was delivered under the Trump administration,
0:47.8	written by a good friend, Congressman Kevin Brady,
0:52.1	it was a good success.
0:53.8	Obviously, some solid growth, I think, that came from that, some tax cuts,
0:58.4	but it didn't get even closer where we wanted to be with simplifying our tax code.
1:03.2	I mean, truth is, compliance costs still run about $300 billion.
1:09.3	Our economy doesn't grow the way we would like it to.
1:13.4	And one option to boost our economic competitiveness is to fundamentally
	...

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