Tax Policy: You Can’t Handle the Truth
ProGrowthLiberal at Econospeak reminds us of a central tenet myth of this electoral campaign, and an example of political pressure on information sources:
Tax Policy: You Can’t Handle the Truth
Sahil Kapur reports on something that does not surprise me on two levels:
The author of a Congressional Research Service study, who found no evidence that tax cuts for high income earners lead to economic growth, is standing by his work, after the legislative branch’s nonpartisan research arm withdrew the report under pressure from Republican leaders. And Democratic principals are demanding to know why CRS caved to GOP pressure. CRS quietly and quickly pulled the six-week old report, despite the wishes of the research arm’s economic team, the New York Times reported Thursday … The study, which TPM and others reported on at the time, delved into the last 65 years of U.S. tax policy — specifically how marginal rates on high incomes and capital gains taxes impact decision-making. It concluded that reducing effective taxes on the rich does not generate economic growth, but that it does correlate with rising income inequality in the short term. The report’s conclusions aren’t terribly controversial in mainstream economics.
What Thomas Hungerford wrote has indeed been the consensus view among economists who are not prostituting themselves for Mitt Romney… (More at Econospeak)
Hatch/McConnell:
It is simple and as Clinton would say, it is arithmetic. The 2001/2003 Bush and Republican sponsored tax breaks were skewed heavily towards 1% of the population making >$500,000 annually. 31% of the tax breaks went to this 1 million Household Taxpayers and is largely reponsible for ~$2 trillion of the current deficit. Even with the revocation of federal income tax portion of the tax breaks, a lare part of both will still remain and favor this small percentage of household taxpayers.
Furthermore as the study declares, there is no evidence of increased job creativity during such tax cuts. In 2006, Tom Hertz did his “Upward Mobility in America” study detailng the increased inequity of the lower 90% and decreased mobility experienced by segments of the population. What was difficult pre-2000 has become next to impossible with many slipping down the ladder of success.
I can see why McConnell and Hatch would bury this report.
via firedoglake,
the study from Thomas Hungerford is available here (pdf)
Very discouraging to see CRS pull the report under pressure from politicians.
I don’t think this is the first time. Their report on Social Security many years ago carefully avoided mentioning the size of the projected shortfall in terms of what it would cost the workers to make up for it. So even though the report was essentially correct, it was not essentially honest, and congressmen were free to believe that “we can’t afford it,” and of course “it’s just arithmetic.”
Arithmetic in the hands of liars, is just a special kind of lie, designed to fool those who cannot or will not examine the numbers for themselves.
“…aren’t terribly controversial in mainstream economics.” At least among mainstream economists not named Glenn “Give it your best shot” Hubbard.
You have to hand it to Rmoney he only goes with the best.
Republican suppress votes as well.
Autumn 2000 I read “on line” a DoD Director of Operational Test and Evaluation report on the MV 22 Osprey. This after 22 marines were killed in a crash of the contraption in Apr 2000.
The report revealed the aircraft was no tested in several operational areas and it failed to be proven “suitable”. DoD continued to push its production, in the military industry compolex the risk of “rejecting a good lot” is ZERO. While the risk of accepting a bad lot approaches ONE.
A few months later the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation web site stopped posting test reports.
Censorship has become a republican tool for government.