Here are portions of a letter printed in the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel concerning tax cuts & hikes:
“Raising taxes is counterproductive. When you take money out of the private sector, less is available for real investments - the ones that create jobs. When there is less money for investment, government revenue actually goes down.”
“…every time taxes are cut, we not only have an economic boom but government revenue increases dramatically. When taxes creep up, the economy slows and the government takes in less money.”
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=589410This type of thinking occurs when plutocratic propaganda is one’s main source for knowledge.
Let me paraphrase the two points above:
1. Decreasing tax revenues increases tax revenues
2. Increasing tax revenues decreases tax revenues
This represents a total paralysis of reason and perspective.Tax cuts may stimulate the economy but they have NEVER even come close to increasing tax revenue to cover the cost of the tax cut itself.
There is no free ride. Some point to Reagan's tax cuts in the 1980s as a shining example of the miracles of tax cuts.
Reagan slashed income and corporate taxes. However the federal government hemorrhaged revenues.
In all, Reagan raised taxes 7 times in his 8 years including the largest tax increase (as a percentage of GDP) in US history passed in 1982. He raised the FICA tax by about 50%.