Economists Can’t Be Trusted on Tax Plans: Laurence Kotlikoff

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- The presidential campaign has justbegun, and it’s already making me queasy. It’s not the smugpoliticians claiming magical job creation powers or specialconnections with the almighty. It’s the economists who producemisleading analyses of the candidates’ proposed policies.

Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 tax plan is a case in point. My lastcolumn pointed out that his plan would hit the superrich --those with lots of wealth, but little or no labor earnings --right in the solar plexus, dramatically lowering theirsustainable living standards. The day after the column appeared,the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Instituteand Brookings Institution, released a widely quoted studysuggesting exactly the opposite.