The absurd Jonathan Weisman writing in the absurd Washington Post about the absurd Mike Huckabee‘s “FairTax” plan:

FairTax advocates say a 23 percent tax rate would maintain the same amount of money flowing into the Treasury, though that number is debatable. An item priced at $1 would actually cost consumers 30 percent more, or $1.30. FairTax advocates say that amounts to a 23 percent rate, because 30 cents is 23 percent of the product’s after-tax cost of $1.30.

I feel bad because had Weisman written this story a few years ago, it would have been at best a he said/she said, and more likely a piece with approving quotes from six “economists” who still believe in the Laffer Curve and one from a mildly skeptical Fox News Democrat. But “debatable?” Only if your logic is caught in an infinite loop.