ABSTRACT
The consumption expenditure tax has long been discussed in the economic literature but was not seriously considered until the Treasury Department recommended it during the Second World War. It was also recommended by a minority of the British Royal Commission on the Taxation of Profits and Income in 1955, by a British committee of experts chaired by Professor J.P. Meade in 1978, and by the US Treasury Department in 1977. Although these recommendations were not adopted, the tax has come to be regarded as a respectable possibility.
