General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"I helped create the GOP tax myth. Trump is wrong. Tax cuts don't equal growth."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/09/28/i-helped-create-the-gop-tax-myth-trump-is-wrong-tax-cuts-dont-equal-growth/?utm_term=.762f5d422adcFour decades ago, while working for Rep. Jack Kemp (R-N.Y.), I had a hand in creating the Republican tax myth. Of course, it didnt seem like a myth at that time taxes were rising rapidly because of inflation and bracket creep, the top tax rate was 70 percent and the economy seemed trapped in stagflation with no way out. Tax cuts, at that time, were an appropriate remedy for the economys ills. By the time Ronald Reagan was president, Republican tax gospel went something like this:
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Based on this logic, tax cuts became the GOPs go-to solution for nearly every economic problem. Extravagant claims are made for any proposed tax cut. Wednesday, President Trump argued that our country and our economy cannot take off without the kind of tax reform he proposes. Last week, Republican economist Arthur Laffer said, If you cut that [corporate] tax rate to 15 percent, it will pay for itself many times over. This will bring in probably $1.5 trillion net by itself.
Thats wishful thinking. So is most Republican rhetoric around tax cutting. In reality, theres no evidence that a tax cut now would spur growth.
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The flip-side of tax cut mythology is the notion that tax increases are an economic disaster the reason, in theory, every Republican in Congress voted against the tax increase proposed by Bill Clinton in 1993. Yet the 1990s was the most prosperous decade in recent memory. At 37.3 percent, aggregate real GDP growth in the 1990s exceeded that in the 1980s.
Despite huge tax cuts almost annually during the George W. Bush administration that cost the Treasury trillions in revenue, according to the Congressional Budget Office, growth collapsed in the first decade of the 2000s. Real GDP rose just 19.5 percent, well below its 90s rate.
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Gothmog
(145,554 posts)Jim Beard
(2,535 posts)Tax cuts and borrowing are ways of stabilizing our economy but only used by rational people.
Eliot Rosewater
(31,121 posts)they are paying "effective" tax rates over 60%, anything less than that and they are getting away with murder.
Jim Beard
(2,535 posts)you put your money back in the economy which will produce jobs. This money will not be taxed as much IF you keep reinvesting it into the economy.
Like now, the money is all in the Billionaires hands. We need money for economic stimulation.
They will get to keep it if they invest in this country, if not, the pay 92% in taxes.
The problem with the republican plans is that they do not demand the rich reinvest.
Eliot Rosewater
(31,121 posts)taxing the rich being unfair.
It is sad there are that many of us that are that susceptible to obvious bullshit.
Thanks for supporting my position, I have very extreme positions.
Like nationalizing most everything that is necessary to live. Just about at least.
Invest has to mean more than buy your competitor and shut them down!
A modern version could give advantages for paying a living wage, lessening environmental impact, paying fair share of local taxes.
Arbitrage, high speed trading, derivatives, and other "pure money plays" need to be taxed at a higher rate.
HopeAgain
(4,407 posts)With the growing income disparity, that is where we are directly headed. The Lords will be living large while the rest of us support them and enjoy a barely sustenance living.
Bradshaw3
(7,529 posts)Everyone meaning repubs, commentators and everyday people. Thom Hartmann talked about this piece this morning and I was going to post a link to it, so thanks.
Wounded Bear
(58,706 posts)That is the intent of them, of course. If you look at it from the perspective of the average billionaire, Reaganomics is working just fine.
Jim Beard
(2,535 posts)breakdowns.
This is from the bottom of the link concerning tax cuts
http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-taxshare.htm
Myth: Tax cuts for the rich shift the tax burden upward.
Fact: Tax cuts enable the rich to pay more taxes because they make more; the poor pay less taxes because they make less.
Tax cuts on the rich increase income inequality, by giving the rich more money to make money. Although their individual tax bills fall, the number of rich people grow, and as a group they pay a larger share of all taxes paid. Unfortunately, this expanding group of newly rich people does not expand beyond the richest 1 percent -- which is too few to benefit most Americans. Furthermore, their increased share of the national income represents a decrease for the poor. In relative terms, the poor pay less taxes because they make less income. Only supply-siders would spin this as a success story for the poor.
This is the main link to all the other liberal info links
http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/LiberalFAQ.htm#Backmobility
It is worth it.
pnwmom
(108,994 posts)Beartracks
(12,821 posts)=========*
Locrian
(4,522 posts)maxrandb
(15,351 posts)Tax the 1% at 90%, including corporations, but allow that any increase in Worker's Wages, Investment in Company Expansion, or increase in employee benefits would reduce the tax burden.
Only wage increases they couldn't claim as a deductions would be those of Executive Level non-hourly employees and cap Executive Pay at 10X the highest paid hourly worker.
Mr.Bill
(24,319 posts)have doubled the national debt. Ask any republican to name them. None will give you the correct answer, which is Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. The two presidents that made huge tax cuts.
Jim Beard
(2,535 posts)they usually take the money. Cut taxes, make government smaller, cut taxes again and continue to shrink government until there is no more government.
Mr.Bill
(24,319 posts)They print money, throw it at the Pentagon and fight unwinnable wars. Programs like Medicare, Unemployment and Social Security are self-funded, although there will always be arguments as to what degree they are self-funded. The Pentagon all comes out of the general fund.
I wonder how many wars we would be fighting if they were paid for through a deduction listed on our pay stubs.
Jim Beard
(2,535 posts)Nevernose
(13,081 posts)By the one percent, who's left that's ever going to vote to raise taxes to reasonable levels or cut military spending?
We need public funding of elections and an amendment to completely remove all private money from politics.
jmowreader
(50,562 posts)JFK cut taxes on the top bracket by 20 points and the economy took off...so, doing it again should work fine, right.
Stop.
Kennedy curt the top rate from 90 percent to 70, which did two things: put a lot of money into the hands of people who still thought they had duties to their workers, and left a lot of money in the hands of the government.
The Laffer Curve says there is a perfect rate for taxes, and a rate below that will keep the government from functioning. Unfortunately, we went into below that mode in August 1981.