Paul’s arguing for punitive taxes on positional goods for the sake of reducing wasteful consumption. I think Sumner’s mostly trying to argue that the social costs of taxing the consumption of the rich are low. I agree with the latter point, for roughly the same reason I disagree with the former; I think wasteful conspicuous consumption’s a side-effect of limited opportunities for more substantive consumption or investment.
Here’s a post by Scott Sumner (an economist with a track record) about how taxing positional goods does make sense:
http://www.themoneyillusion.com/?p=26694
Paul’s arguing for punitive taxes on positional goods for the sake of reducing wasteful consumption. I think Sumner’s mostly trying to argue that the social costs of taxing the consumption of the rich are low. I agree with the latter point, for roughly the same reason I disagree with the former; I think wasteful conspicuous consumption’s a side-effect of limited opportunities for more substantive consumption or investment.