Milton Friedman endorsed an expenditure (consumption) tax as the ideal way to raise revenue when government needs it, having proposed it in a 1943 American Economic Review article as the best way to fund the World War II effort—indicating common ground between left and right on using consumption taxation.

factualpending

Speaker

Robert Frank

Evidence Quote

“Milton said look I don't agree with you that the government should be raising more revenue right now... but he did say that if the government needed revenue the tax I proposed would be the ideal way to raise it”

Source

Robert Frank on Competition, Government, and Darwin 09/12/2011— EconTalk
Created: 6/17/2026, 9:48:29 AM

My Notes

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