I spoke briefly by phone in December to a reporter from Japan who was asking me how the 2017 Republican tax bill compared to 1986 tax reform. Today he kindly sent me the text of his article, with highlighting for the portion where my comments are mentioned.

Unfortunately for my comprehension, the article is in Japanese, but he suggested that I use Google Translate for the highlighted portion. I did so, and here is what I got:

“Mr. Trump often cites tax reductions of the Reagan administration about 30 years ago. However, Daniel Shaviro, who worked as a lawyer in planning a tax cut on Reagan, said, ‘At that time, the principle that equitable taxation should be imposed on whatever income it was in was at the bottom of the line: the current tax system to distinguish by how earned, It is not similar even though they are similar.'”

Hmm, not sure Google Translate absolutely nailed it here.

But perhaps I was noting that the passthrough rules cause the same earnings to be taxed differentially based on whether or not one is formally classified as an employee.