Is Tax Reform in the Public Interest? a Rent-Seeking Perspective

Abstract

This article argues that rent-seeking competition over tax reform can exhaust prospective efficiency gains, thus making tax reform a potential negative-sum activity—especially when considered over the entire rent-seeking cycle. It concludes that a positive defense against negative-sum tax reform games can arise from public choice economists debunking the game's ideological basis and constructing "rent-seeking impact statements" for proposed tax reforms.