Ramesh Ponnuru asks why, if I'm favorably disposed towards a progressive consumption tax, am I not "for keeping Bush's tax cuts on dividends, capital gains, and estates?" The answer is easy: Because I take the "progressive" side of the equation very seriously. I don't want a weak consumption tax on the rich and a strong income and payroll tax on everyone else. The point of a progressive consumption tax isn't merely that it doesn't tax wealth, but that it sharply increases taxes on upper-income consumption. Instead, what we've done is reduced taxes on investments for the rich, lowered it on consumption for the rich (by lowering their income brackets), and generally shifted the burden downward. That's not a suitable stand-in.
