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Greenspan Touts Idea of a Consumption Tax

Mar 3, 9:41 AM (ET)

By JEANNINE AVERSA

WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on Thursday embraced the notion of overhauling the nation's tax system and said that some form of a consumption tax - such as a national sales tax - could spur greater economic growth.

The Fed chief made his comments in prepared remarks to the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform. Revamping the complex tax code is an important goal of President Bush.

Greenspan pointed out the merits of a "consumption" tax, as well as the challenges of setting up such a tax.

Consumption taxes can take the form of national retail sales taxes or a value-added tax, imposed on the increased value of a good or service at each stage of manufacture and distribution and ultimately passed on to the consumer.

"As you know, many economists believe that a consumption tax would be best from the perspective of promoting economic growth - particularly if one were designing a tax system from scratch - because a consumption tax is likely to encourage saving and capital formation," Greenspan said.

"However, getting from the current tax system to a consumption tax raises a challenging set of transition issues," he added.

Bush's advisers have spoken favorably of the economic benefits that could be achieved by moving from a system that taxes income to one that taxes consumption. However, Democratic critics contend such a consumption tax would hit low-income Americans the hardest.

Bush's aides have pointed out that the current tax system is actually a combination of a system that taxes income and one that taxes consumption. They note the creation of individual retirement accounts and other tax-deferred savings accounts allows taxpayers to shelter some investment earnings from tax.

Greenspan also said the tax panel will have to decide what type of system to use such as "a comprehensive income tax, a consumption tax or some combination of the two, as is done in many other countries."

The tax panel is responsible for coming up with recommendations to make taxes fairer and simpler. In addition to revamping Social Security, Bush wants to overhaul the nation's tax system - two centerpieces of his second-term economic agenda. Achieving both will be difficult politically and economically, especially against the backdrop of swollen budget deficits, analysts say.

Greenspan didn't offer a specific approach for policy-makers to follow as they consider an overhaul of the tax code.

But he did say that changes should be aimed at making the tax code easier for Americans to navigate, be fair and should contain an element of predictability so that businesses and consumers alike can look into the future and have a good idea what their tax obligations are - allowing them to plan ahead.

"A simpler tax code would reduce the considerable resources devoted to complying with current tax laws, and the freed up resources could be used for more productive purposes," Greenspan said.