JONATHAN CHAIT JUNE 8, 2011
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Kevin Drum asks:
Reading Tim Pawlenty's paean to double plus supply-side-ism yesterday made me wonder, once again, why conservatives think we liberals are opposed to it. I mean, if it actually worked, why would we be? It's politically popular, and by their accounts it would generate trillions of dollars in extra revenue that we could use to finance our beloved lefty social programs. What's not to like?
The only answer I can come up with is that conservatives are now completely invested in their theory that we liberals loathe rich people so much that we don't care. We all want to screw the wealthy so badly that we're willing to forego the elections we'd win and the mountains of revenue we'd gain if we lowered their taxes. We hate them that much.
Or is there some other wacky theory that's popular in conservative circles but that I'm unaware of?
No, that's exactly it. The early supply-siders, like Jude Wanniski and Jack Kemp, were sure they could convert liberals to their theory once they had learned the Good News. They actually viewed liberals as their most promising potential converts, precisely because they believed they had unlocked the key to higher revenue at no cost. They genuinely, tirelessly evangelized for years.
Eventually, pretty much all of them gave up on this hope. Now they almost all believe liberals hate the rich so much they're willing to sacrifice economic growth and revenue in order to punish them.
7 comments
Sadly, it would seem they got confused. It's not that low taxes generate wealth and jobs, but that when the country's employment levels are high and the wealth is more or less equitably distributed, that's when tax rates can come down.
- GSpinks
June 8, 2011 at 3:03pm
Shh, don't tell anyone. I have invented a perpetual motion machine but I can't get anyone to pay any attention to it. The media won't touch it. Those liberals just hate industry and entrepreneurship, so I don't have a chance.
- liberalref
June 8, 2011 at 3:28pm
We liberals don't hate all rich people - just the Koch Brothers.
- wildboy
June 8, 2011 at 3:32pm
Michael Kinsley (Mr. Chait's TRB predecessor) wrote in Time in July of 2006 about his pending brain surgery. He concluded: "That's why my first words coming out of surgery are so important. They have got to tell the world—and convince myself—that I am all there." Editor's note: Kinsley's surgery took place on July 12 and went fine. His first words were, "Well, of course, when you cut taxes, government revenues go up. Why couldn't I see that before?"
- Nusholtz
June 8, 2011 at 3:33pm
Funny stuff, Nush.
- NR857175
June 8, 2011 at 4:32pm
I haven't heard the tax cuts raise revenue line that much of late. I just thought it was getting too silly even for Republicans. I suppose we will now have nothing but it now.
- MikeB.
June 8, 2011 at 5:31pm
It's a religious belief. Facts don't enter into it at all.
- miceelf
June 9, 2011 at 11:21am