In the United States, debates over the optimal tax-base have raged since the implementation of the income tax in 1913. Recently, the controversy has centered around the Fair Tax. Advocates of the Fair Tax contend that it will achieve two goals. First, they claim it will maintain revenue neutrality. Second, they claim it will tax only consumption rather than impinging on income and savings. In this paper, we use insights from the Austrian tradition of economics to question the desirability of the first claim and to question the feasibility of the second claim. We conclude that debates over taxation in general woul d be more fruitful if they returned to more fundamental issues—namely the quantity of resources over which the state possesses ultimate ownership.

中文翻译：

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重新评估公平税

在美国，自1913年实施所得税以来，关于最佳税基的争论一直很激烈。最近，争论的焦点集中在公平税上。公平税收的倡导者认为，它将实现两个目标。首先，他们声称它将保持收入中性。其次，他们声称它只会对消费征税，而不会影响收入和储蓄。在本文中，我们使用奥地利经济学传统的见解来质疑第一个主张的可取性并质疑第二个主张的可行性。我们得出的结论是，如果回到更基本的问题——即国家拥有最终所有权的资源数量——关于税收的辩论一般会更有成果。