Larry Summers on tax reform

From the Financial Times:

Can the observation that Ireland, Bermuda and Luxembourg are three of the five jurisdictions where the US corporate sector earned the most profits reflect anything other than rampant tax sheltering? Anyone who doubts this should ponder the fact that in 2007, US corporate profits in Bermuda totalled 646 per cent of Bermuda’s GDP.

And along the lines of this post, here’s some real talk from Obama’s former chief economic adviser, Larry Summers:

It is tempting to say presidential candidates should put forward their tax reform proposals in detail and allow voters to choose. But this is unlikely to work. The more tax issues are discussed during the campaign, the more the candidates will be driven to make pledges about the things they will never do — pledges that might make tax reform that much more difficult.

He suggests instead that both parties begin preparing policy options to inform post-election negotiations.