rumitoid

Ever since Reagan’ 1980 e******n campaign, it’s been an article of faith among movement conservatives that tax cuts pay for themselves. They don’t of course. The evidence is overwhelming, and economists across the political spectrum—even top Republican advisors such as Greg Mankiw, quoted above—have said so repeatedly over the years. But that’s the thing about articles of faith—they don’t depend on evidence at all, they depend on belief. And believing that tax cuts pay for themselves has been a pretty successful political strategy, regardless of the less-than-steller economic results. (Reagan’s tax cuts in 1981 were supposed to pay for themselves, so were Bush’s 20 years later. Both created massive deficits instead.) That political success is why Time’s Justin Fox found such widespread enthusiasm for the idea among top GOP politicos in late 2007.

Economist Mark Thoma took note that the notion was still alive and well with some GOP Senate candidates in October 2010, despite the fact that “the Bush tax cuts did not even come close to paying for themselves,” and actually “cost us around $1.7 trillion in revenue from 2001 through 2008.” Two years later, Media Matters noted that both Romney and Gingrich were on board with the idea in 2012, and CBS treated it as “an open question’—despite the fact that Mankiw and a bevy of other Republican economists they cited dismissed it in no uncertain terms.
http://www.salon.com/2015/01

Read more at http://www.salon.com/2015/01/07/the_rights_new_war_on_t***h_math_reality_and_the_real_reason_fox_news_economics_cant_be_trusted/

PeterS

Yeah, but you forget that the case is always to cut taxes so whether tax cuts pay for themselves hardly matters...

Grugore

Here's a little lesson in economics for you. When you cut taxes, businesses are able to hire more employees. These employees pay taxes. The problem isn't the tax cuts. It's a government that refuses to reduce the amount of money they spend. I have to balance my check book. Why shouldn't Congress do the same? Tax cuts DO pay for themselves. Unfortunately, the government spends even more.

reconreb Loc: America / Inglis Fla.

Hear, Hear, :thumbup:

rumitoid

Grugore, neither you nor I are expert economists. When expert economists, even those under Republican administrations say these "tax cuts" don't work, we need to listen and look deeper.

Grugore

Two Presidents lowered taxes. Reagan, and Kennedy. In both cases government revenue increased. This is a fact.

rumitoid

No it is not and if you have evidence that goes against history, please produce it. Just saying it is so is good for your Right Wing buddies but not serious debate. SOURCES!

rumitoid

The Euro Union followed the wayward and destructive Conservative line of Severity Consciousness, reducing welfare programs, withholding stimulus funds, and lowering taxes for the elite. It almost destroyed them and they are still in recovery from such nonsense.

EconomistDon

Grugore is right!! Supply-Side economics , which started with the Tax Reduction Act of 1984, broke the back of spiraling inflation and unleashed the two longest, strongest economic expansions in the nation's history. They culminated in several years of positive budget balance by the end of Clinton's second term. Yes Clinton maintained supply-side economics throughout his term. Call him a DINO if you want; he was a good conservative. I would have to research the "conservative" economists that you are quoting to determine why they would speak against overwhelming economic statistics and the consensus of their peers.

I should add that supply-side economics also includes reductions in government regulations. The idea is to get business healthy so they can prosper, hire more workers and pay more taxes. Current business taxes and excessive regulations are driving business and jobs offshore.

Grugore

Why bother? I know exactly what you'll say about any evidence I provide. We all do. You'll believe what you want, no matter what the facts are. Everyone keeps telling you you're wrong, but in your demented, little, liberal mind, you're right and everyone else is stupid. You truly are a pathetic and pitiful creature.

Antisocialist Loc: Florida

You don’t know what you are talking about. It sounds like you are parroting some crap you heard on MSLSD. People who live within their means do not have financial difficulties. It is the i***ts who only know how to tax, borrow, and spend that need to be bailed out.

The lean to the left throughout Europe is one reason they pretty much got knocked on their ass over the last few years and continue to struggle. The implosion of the Greek & Cypr**t economies was not due to fiscal conservatism, it was because the governments never attempted to live within their means. They spent far more money than they took in (sound familiar?) and when the economy slowed, that caused treasury receipts to fall so they ‘borrowed’ money through the sale of bonds (sound familiar?). Governments ran up massive deficits (sound familiar?) until the entire s**m imploded.

While most Americans refer to our recent economic issue as the ‘Great Recession’, Europeans refer to their economic woes as the European ‘Debt Crisis’. How strange they use the word ‘debt’ to describe their problems while you believe it has something to do with being fiscally conservative. Do any of you Liberals ever stop and think about what you say or write?

You need to research something called the Laffer Curve. Democrats have pushed us way beyond the limitations of this ‘curve’.

JMHO Loc: Utah

And, you use the biased left-wing salon.com as your source??!! Tax cuts work every time they're tried. Higher taxes stifle investment and job growth. Go take some business classes, and a macroeconomics course will ya.

JMHO Loc: Utah

Of course, he's a flaming liberal! He wouldn't know the facts, or t***h if it hit him between the eyes. He has drank the Kool Aid, probably brain washed in college.

PeterS

Then why didn't businesses hire more employees when Bush cut taxes? There has yet to be a business that has hired for the sake of hiring--the only reason businesses hire more employees is to keep up with demand and cutting taxes on the wealthy has zero to do with that!

VladimirPee

Quoting Media Matters and Salon? 2 insane far left propaganda sources.

Bush Tax Cuts did not create massive deficits. The financial crisis did which is a different issue.

Oct. 11 2007 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government posted the smallest budget deficit in five years as tax revenue reached a record and spending rose at the slowest pace in George W. Bush's presidency.

The deficit narrowed to $162.8 billion in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the third straight annual decline and lowest since $158 billion in 2002, the Treasury Department said today in Washington.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=abGA3.0koGV4