Tax Bill 3: Don’t Mess With Taxes

Part 3 of Scott's 2017 tax-bill series, opening by conceding two points to commenters (there IS an efficiency case for cutting distortionary corporate rates; buybacks can stimulate). His standing argument: he cares less about aggregate growth than about where the money goes, because the marginal utility of a dollar varies enormously. Illustrated with the Alice/Bob demon-curse parable (efficiency says cut Bob's cursed taxes; Scott would still cut effective-altruist Alice's, since she's the only high-marginal-value actor) and a back-of-envelope showing the bill likely delivers the poorest quintile less than the default spending would. Honest throughout, with an appended correction about compounding.

Quality 56 · Solid. 56 — Solid. Competent, well-argued, carried by the memorable Alice/Bob parable, but explicitly topical (a specific 2017 bill), opinion-forward, and self-admittedly outside Scott's economic expertise — a within-blog contribution with limited lasting reach. Firm mid-Solid; tail-down applied so the parable's charm doesn't creep it toward Strong.

Claude’s paradigm shift 40 · Moderate. 40 — Moderate floor. The marginal-utility-of-money framing is standard welfare economics restated clearly, not novel at publication.

Real-world impact 1 · Negligible. 1 — negligible. Topical commentary on a single bill; no durable real-world effect.