Graph for the Day for December 7, 2010

Tax Cuts: Rip Off for the Rich or Stimulus for the Economy?

"Let's hope the president holds his ground on not extending the Bush tax cuts to the richest Americans - who don't need it, don't deserve it and won't help the economy if they get it."[1]   Robert Reich 

"Over that long span of time, there have been many sharp cuts in tax rates under Presidents Calvin Coolidge, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.  ... [C]uts in tax rates do not mean cuts in tax revenues.  In all four of these administrations, of both parties, so-called "tax cuts for the rich" led to increased tax revenues - with people earning high incomes paying not only a larger sum total of tax revenues, but even a higher proportion of all tax revenues.  ... [T]hese tax-rate reductions spurred economic activity, which we definitely need today."[2] - Thomas Sowell


Index of Changes from Tax Cuts - 1960 to 2010:

1962-67 ~ Change in annual tax revenue: $195 billion ~ change in non-farm employees:  10.3 million

1982-87 ~ Change in annual tax revenue: $321 billion ~ change in non-farm employees:  12.4 million

2001-07 ~ Change in annual tax revenue: $293 billion ~ change in non-farm employees:    5.8million

Janice Shaw Crouse, Ph.D., author of "Children at Risk" (Transaction, 2010), is Senior Fellow, The Beverly LaHaye Institute, Concerned Women for America.


[1] Robert Reich, "Obama must oppose tax cuts for rich," San Francisco Chronicle, November 21, 2010, accessed at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/21/IN0E1GD112.DTL.
[2] Thomas Sowell, "History Clearly Backs GOP on Tax Cuts," Human Events, December 1, 2010, accessed at http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=40289.

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