Salon - "The great GOP tax cut fantasy"

[TomCADem]

I think the real problem is that the media does not challenge this factual assertion whenever Republicans recite this talking point. If President Obama appears on Fox News, he can't get in a word over the host's recitation of talking points. But, if Donald Trump says that President Obama was not born in the United States, the interviewer sits there and smiles politely. Thanks to the corporate media propaganda machine, the myth of Reagan continues to live, and woe to the interviewee who tries to assert otherwise.

http://www.salon.com/technology/how_the_world_works/2011/04/21/the_great_republican_tax_cut_fantasy/index.html

Here's Rep. Joe Walsh, (R-Ill.) the self-styled "conservative Tea Party activist" who upset Democrat Melissa Bean in the 2010 midterms, on ABC's "This Week."

"In the '80s, federal revenues went up," said Walsh. "We didn't cut spending. Revenues went up in the '80s. Every time we've cut taxes, revenues have gone up. The economy has grown."

If you look at the raw numbers of federal tax revenue over the last 40 years, you will notice a striking phenomenon -- the numbers almost always go up, except in the case of deep recessions. This is basically a function of population growth, and it happens whether taxes are cut, or raised.

But the raw totals don't tell you much, because of inflation. In 2006, Time business columnist Justin Fox adjusted the raw federal tax income revenue totals for inflation, and discovered an interesting thing. Revenue fell in the first few years after both Reagan and Bush's tax cuts, before growth resumed. In 2008, Paul Krugman adjusted for both inflation and population growth, to try to figure out the per-capita tax revenue increase for each decade since Reagan, and found something even more enlightening. Real revenues per capita rose 19 percent from 1980-1988. From 1992-2000, real revenues per capita rose 41 percent -- after tax hikes by both George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton! And the numbers for George W. Bush? Pure disaster.

Of course, George Bush's term ended in economic Armageddon, which always plays hell with statistics. The rise and fall of the business cycle needs to be taken into account when comparatively judging revenue increases or decreases. But the consensus view of most of the economists who have attempted to sort this out is that in general, tax cuts do not pay for themselves by increasing revenue -- unless you are moving down from an extremely high tax bracket.

[yourout]

1. Its more like "The great GOP tax cut Fallacy"

Fantasy implies they believe what they say to be true.

The truth is they know what they are saying is untrue but will satisfy their greed.

Fallacy is a better description.

[unblock]

3. the word you're looking for is "fraud".

[Omnibus]

4. You meant "lie".

It's the GOP "tax cuts for the rich help the economy" LIE. We have 30 years of evidence now. They don't stimulate the economy, they don't create jobs, they don't create wealth. They siphon money out of the productive part of the economy into the coffers of the wealthy, increase the deficit, and make everyone who actually WORKS for a living, poorer.

I WISH we could tax dividends and capital gains at the same rate we tax earned income--including FICA, etc. But that would inconvenience the rich dogtick bastards who apparently run our government.

[applegrove]

2. The right wing wants the tax cuts so corporations and wealthy people can

reinvest their money. Thing is they will reinvest abroad because that is where all the growth is these days. But they can't say that out loud so they use the tax cuts create jobs mantra.... and leave it at that.