Tuesday, September 12, 2017

The 'Laffer Curve': Why we know Reagan's tax reforms worked

Via Billy

Laffer Curve

Given the frenzied shouting that is going to accompany the current calls for tax reform we need to remind ourselves of one rather important thing – the Reagan tax reforms worked.

By this I don't mean that Art Laffer is always and everywhere right, that tax cuts pay for themselves, not that that's what he actually said anyway. Rather, they succeeded in bringing our tax rates roughly to where any further increases will not do much to increase government revenue, and they forced much of the compensation that high-earners were receiving in the form of untaxed perks back into being reported and taxed as personal income.

2 comments:

  1. Not to get bogged down in the sauce but a great deal of the "success" of the Reagan tax cuts came from easy Fed monetary policy and massive amounts of government spending.

    I have always believed we play by the rules of socialist when we start arguing over how much tax cuts will "cost" government. It would seem better to frame this as a property discussion. Once we can establish that what government is TAKING is property someone else earned and owns it provides a much better foundation for discussion.

    Y'all have a nice day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Once we can establish that what government is TAKING is property someone else earned and owns it provides a much better foundation for discussion.


      Good point.

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