I do believe Pat is very low on my list of people I'd take economic advice from...
Me too, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Pat is right about the insanity of the US tax code. US corporate income taxes are among the highest in the world and the VAT is export neutral, whereas our tax code kneecaps US manufacturers.
Where Buchanan goes wrong here is in wrapping a perfectly good discussion of tax issues in a conspiratoriast rant about how elites and big companies are selling out America. The truth is much simpler: class warfare dems (1) are hostile to business and (2) favor punitive corporate taxation because its impact on consumers is indirect and therefore politically costless.
The solution is tax reform. The route to serious tax reform, however, involves getting 60 votes in the Senate to break an inevitable filibuster, and such considerations would lead Pat back in the direction of Republican orthodoxy. He doesn't want to play in the GOP sandbox anymore so he spins conspiracy theories to explain the inability of the political system to attack the problem.
The truth is the truth no-matter who states it.