"Cutting taxes actually increases revenue"

[TheFarseer]

Conservatives seem to be able to cite stats all day to back this up, but one thing they are overlooking is that the deficit keeps growing and growing. This alone seems to be damning proof that their stats are made up or grossly distorted. I heard one of them say yesterday that the capital gains tax being cut had increased revenue by encouraging people to make more stock trades and not be gouged by taxes. I think the more critical factor in decided whether or not to sell is if you think the stock will go down or if you need the money for something else. Conservatives are so weird on this subject.

[AllegroRondo]

1. So if we cut taxes to 0, the government would be rolling in dough

[havocmom]

4. Might as well-

with jobs going overseas, not many workers coughing up payroll taxes anyway...

[TheFarseer]

9. That's the argument I always use n/t

[bluestateguy]

2. I wonder why that argument is never applied to college tuition

nt

[blurp]

5. Because education is now an industry.

[SoCalDem]

3. Try telling that to your kids when you cut their allowance in half

Well, son/daughter..dad's gonna give you $5 instead of $10 a week so you will have MORE money"..:rofl:

[porphyrian]

6. It's only a true statement if you also cut spending.

They usually leave that part out.

[NoAmericanTaliban]

7. Yea, & I have a bridge in Brooklyn I can sell you :)

Point out that most state taxes have gone up because of the federal budget cuts to those states

[BOSSHOG]

8. I always like to "localize" such arguments

Replace the "economy" with your own family situation. Substitute "income" for taxes; personal debt for the deficit; cost of living for revenue. Incredibly difficult for bubba to absorb and rationalize but it is fun to chit chat with them. And if I'm lucky the subject will change to my patriotism.

[lumberjack_jeff]

10. If revenue goes up, taxes were not cut - only shifted.

In Bush's case - onto future taxpayers.

[shoelace414]

13. Exactly

We have NOT HAD ONE TAX CUT. We have only had the largest tax shift in American history.

Bush has not CUT taxes, he has SHIFTED taxes.

[TheFarseer]

19. and Reagan didn't cut taxes

he just shifted them to the payroll taxes. It's time someone said that.

[kentuck]

11. Yeah...we got surpluses as far as the eye can see....

Oh, that was before the taxcuts!

[mmonk]

12. Up is down.

The tax cut meme is the centerpiece of their cult following. The people that believe them think they are going to get rich like hitting the lottery.

[kath]

16. And war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength.

[Ron Mexico]

14. Tax cuts are supposed to be offset by spending cuts as well, and

instead Bush spends like my wife - which is why the deficit swells.

I'm all for tax cuts (especially since my tax dollars go to support the CURRENT government), I think the government is too big and full of waste (despite some unacceptable cuts, a budget of $2.7 trillion is a joke, it's nine grand for every person in the country!), but if you're going to cut taxes you can't increase spending by a fucking third. Leave it to the asshole in the White House to miss the point on something so obvious.

[leftofthedial]

15. they've been in thrall to this lie for three decades now

under limited circumstances, reducing taxes can put more money into the economy and raise overall tax revenues

trouble is, that's not a law, it's a limited phenomenon

other trouble is, their other pet policies ensure that most of the tax cuts DON'T go into the economy

yet more trouble is that they've taken this pet theory to such a ridiculous extreme that we are ineffect taxing the poor and paying the rich. corporations, of course, effectively don't pay any taxes at all anymore.


"conservative theories are religion, not economics.

[Sammy Pepys]

17. Laffer curve

Primary source for the "lower taxes, higher revenue" thing, though it also shows that that is not a hard fast rule.

But tabulating revenue won't tell you anything about spending. If revenue goes up and spending goes up with it or exceeds it, you're just treading water.....or sinking.

The other theory behind "lower taxes, higher revenue" is that if taxes are lower, people will be leess inclined to seek out ways of reducing their bill through deductions and things like that.

As for stocks, people buy and sell for all sorts of reasons.

[MissMarple]

18. Apparently, it works within a very narrow window.

And the timing is so crucial usually it is too late for the benefit to kick in. But it does seem to have mythic properties for the GOP. The levels of stupidity and gullibility are astounding, simply astounding.

I did a search at Brookings a year or so ago, it was quite informative.

[wakeme2008]

20. Let's see Clinton raised taxes

and put more ppl to work than Bush. Turned a surplus over to Bush and let they say cutting taxes works. It does just not to the Govt. :grr: