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Trivia Tidbit Of The Day: Part 216 -- Tax Cuts For The...

Reagan Tax Cuts, Bush Tax Cuts: Some Surprising (For Some) Data-

The Joint Economic Committee of Congress notes that the wealthy pay the overwhelming majority of taxes in America (.pdf):

It'll be another year or two before the effects of President Bush's tax relief can be fully calculated and analyzed, but thus far, it appears as if the rich might actually pay a larger share now than before tax cuts.

But let's look at the Reagan years. How did Ronald Reagan's tax cuts impact these proportions?

Here are the facts about tax relief in the 1980s, from The Heritage Foundation (.pdf):

Although the highest marginal tax rates fell substantially, the wealthy actually paid a higher proportion of America's taxes by the end of the 1980s.

Counter-intuitive, right? It really shouldn't be anymore. In the vaguest sense, lower taxes produce faster economic growth. Faster economic growth then produces more tax revenues. When the highest tax rates came down in the 80s, it provided greater incentives to conduct business and engage in commerce.

But it wasn't just the 1980s.

Try on the 1920s for size (.pdf):

Or Kennedy's "tax cuts for the rich" in the 1960s (.pdf):

Lower taxes = higher tax revenues. This increase may not happen immediately, but it has happened within a short time frame, again and again, over the past several decades. It's not crazy talk, voodoo economics, or even right-wing delusion to claim that tax cuts pay for themselves.

Why is this information almost never reported on CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, or the major newspapers around the country? Why do most Democrats and some Republicans fail to acknowledge these facts? Why are we repeatedly subjected to erroneous canards about "tax cuts for the rich" whenever a Republican fights for tax relief (typically for everyone)?

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Posted by Will Franklin · 14 November 2005 06:10 PM

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