Mainstream public finance analysis has proceeded for decades with virtually no attention to racism. Here's my new study about what studies of racism and public finance economics can learn from each other: brookings.edu/research/publi… 🧵 (1/8) The first step in eliminating racist policies is to define them. The most conservative definition uses racial animus – policies are racist only if they are racially motivated. This is too limited. (2/8)

The 2017 tax cut aimed to use supply-side incentives to boost the economy. Did it work? We say “no.” (1/11) @BrookingsEcon @BrookingsInst @TaxPolicyCenter #EconTwitter brookings.edu/research/searc… The idea was to use lower business tax rates, investment incentives, and protections against profit shifting to get firms to invest more in the US, which would then “trickle down” to workers. Unfortunately, the end result wasn’t so inspiring. (2/11)

I’ve spent the last 5 weeks reading several dozen articles on racism and public policy. I came to this issue only lately and have a lot more learning to do. But the basic conclusions seem clear (short thread): For the sake of basic human decency, racial justice, and the healing of the country, we need substantial reparations, official apologies for historical injustices against Black Americans, and major changes in ongoing American institutions and how people think and act.

Today, @Hamiltonproj released my paper "Raising Revenue with a Progressive Value Added Tax.” I argue that a 10% VAT that finances a UBI equal to 20% of the poverty line would raise substantial net revenue, be progressive and be as conducive to growth as any other tax. (1/14) The VAT is a consumption tax, like a retail sales tax, but collected in bits at each stage of production rather than all at once at the retail level. taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/… (2/14)

Big semantic debate coming about @ewarren tax plan -- Does it raise "taxes" on the middle class? Short answer -- it does not raise "burdens" on the middle class. 1/n Currently, employers pay health insurance premia, which are (economists like me think) passed on to workers in the form of lower wages. 2/ n

Federal Reserve Board nominee Stephen Moore has a poor track record on tax policy. He was a key architect of Kansas’ failed tax cut experiment from 2012, where policymakers reduced the top income tax rate from 6.45 percent to 4.9 percent. (1/5) For income from some businesses – including partnerships, LLCs, S-corps, sole props – the rate was cut to zero. All of this was supposed to boost economic activity in general and business activity in particular. (2/5)