On Allowing the Bush Tax Cuts to Expire, July 25, 2010

For a bit of historical perspective on this:

http://www­.visualizi­ngeconomic­s.com/wp-c­ontent/upl­oads/extre­meinequali­tychart.jp­g

There are, broadly speaking, two arguments advanced to justify the decrease in top marginal tax rates that began in earnest with Reagan: (i) that increased economic activity resulting from the decrease would mean additional productivity and income and therefore, in fact, a diminishment in deficits; and (ii) that the foregoing would not occur but rather a net decease in government revenue, which would thereafter be used for purposes of a "starve the beast" approach in which overall expenditures would be limited. The first argument has been proved patently false; and the second, apart from having a vision that would undercut the protections on which seniors and other vulnerable members of our society rely, has also been hollow as Republicans, given the opportunity, have not hesitated to binge on spending (particularly on military expenditures that exceed those of the next 10 nations combined).

It's good that some measure of sanity and concern for our fellow human beings is creeping back into our tax policy.