DBCFT?
Now what could that be?
I wonder what’s in it for me.
A name you can say
Would go a long way
Toward Tax Reform having its day.
You can’t call it BAT —
Sounds too much like VAT.
And there’s no path forward fo that!
A possible option for Tax Reform these days is a “destination-based cash flow tax,” called #DBCFT on twitter. (I can hardly remember the name. I just started looking at it because old friend Steve Shay speaks at nearby Duke today, and I’m studying up.) Opponents call it BAT – Border Adjustment Tax, for its key border adjustment feature.
BAT is pronounceable. DBCFT is not. How can you sell something you can’t pronounce?
Remembering TEFRA, my first tax bill as a staffer in 1982, DBCFT fans need a pronounceable name.
MAGATA – Make America Great Again Tax Act?
POJABTA – Protect Our Jobs and Borders Tax Act?
“Blueprint” and “A Better Way, ” the names of proponents’ proposals, won’t last. “Cash flow tax” is a better name than DBCFT. Who needs an acronym for a 3-syllable name?
The Center for New Revenue 