The Automated Payment Transaction (APT) tax is a proposal to replace all United States taxes with a single tax (using a very low rate) on each and every transaction in the economy. The system was developed by University of Wisconsin–Madison Professor of Economics Dr. Edgar L. Feige.
The foundations of the APT tax proposal—a small, uniform tax on all economic transactions—involve simplification, base broadening, reductions in marginal tax rates, the elimination of tax and information returns and the automatic collection of tax revenues at the payment source. The APT approach would extend the tax base from income, consumption and wealth to all transactions. As such, it should be regarded as a revenue neutral transactions tax, whose tax base is primarily made up of financial transactions. The APT tax extends the tax reform ideas of John Maynard Keynes,[1] James Tobin[2] and Lawrence Summers,[3] to their logical conclusion, namely to tax the broadest possible tax base at the lowest possible tax rate. The result is to significantly improve economic efficiency, enhance stability in financial markets, while reducing to a minimum the costs of tax administration (assessment, collection,and compliance costs). Supporters argue that a uniform tax might not, on its face, look progressive, but would be since the volume of taxed transactions rise disproportionately with personal income. Daniel Akst, writing in the New York Times[4] ,wrote "the Automated Payment Transaction tax offers fairness, simplicity, and efficiency. It may not be a free lunch. But it sure smells better than the one we eat now." On April 28,2005, the APT proposal was presented to the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform in Washington, DC.[5]
See also
- Income tax in the United States
- Sales taxes in the United States
- Taxation in the United States
- Tax reform
References
- ^ Keynes, J.M. (1936). The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, Harcourt Brace, New York, NY.
- ^ Tobin, James (July 1978). "'A proposal for international monetary reform',". Eastern Economic Journal 4 (3–4): 153–159. http://cowles.econ.yale.edu/P/cp/p04b/p0495.pdf.
- ^ Summers,, Lawrence; Summers, V. P. (1989). "When Financial Markets Work Too Well : A Cautious Case For A Securities Transactions Tax". Journal of Financial Services Research 3 (2–3): 261–286. doi:10.1007/BF00122806.
- ^ "ON THE CONTRARY; Dreaming Out Loud: One Tiny Little Tax". The New York Times. 2003-02-02. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/02/business/on-the-contrary-dreaming-out-loud-one-tiny-little-tax.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm.
- ^ http://129.3.20.41/eps/pe/papers/0506/0506011.pdf
- Feige, Edgar L (PDF). Taxation for the 21st Century. Archived from the original on 2007-07-04. http://web.archive.org/web/20070704040911/http://econwpa.wustl.edu/eps/pe/papers/0106/0106002.pdf. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
- Feige, Edgar L (PDF). Starting Over: The Automated Payment Transaction Tax, Milken Institute Review:Journal of Economic Policy, 2001, Vol 3.(1). Archived from the original on 2001-03-. http://web.archive.org/web/20070704040911/http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/11533/1/MPRA_paper_11533.pdf. Retrieved 2001-03.