Without More Work, Biden’s Tax Plans Don’t Compute

President Joe Biden’s tax proposals are an opening bid in what will likely be a protracted negotiation with Congress. It’s too soon to guess what the outcome will be. But as these talks proceed, lawmakers need to pay closer attention to the way the administration’s ideas hang together.

Changes to the tax code can’t be properly assessed item by item. What counts is the combined effect. This makes Biden’s approach of separate revenue-raising proposals, each tied to a particular spending plan, unwise. It would be better to discuss a single, comprehensive tax-reform package — all the more so because Biden’s ideas, taken together, aren’t mere tweaks to the code. They amount to something much more radical.