Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Steve Dietrich who wrote (33856)	3/9/2009 4:50:48 PM
From: TimF	Respond to of 71588

What's undeniable is strong economic growth is entirely compatible with higher tax rates than what we have now. Strong economic growth is compatible with all sorts of things under the right circumstances. "Higher tax rates than what we have now", are just one of many generally harmful things that don't preclude strong economic growth under all circumstances. Reagan raised taxes many times. Bush Sr. raised taxes. And then Clinton raised them again. Still, following all those tax increases, we had one of the best expansions in our history followed by one of the tamest contractions in our history. Still after all those increases we had much lower top marginal rates than we had before Reagan's cut. Serious people know that modest changes in the tax code don't have much of an effect on the economy one way or the other. I'd say rather that they don't always have much of an effect, or alternatively that they often don't have such a larger effect as to be predominate over other factors. But even a small effect, if sustained, can be a big deal in the long run. OTOH tax changes rarely stick around for the long run. The drop to much lower than 70% tax rates might by now be considered a long run change, but specific tax rates move up or down relatively frequently, meaning you don't see the long run effects of many tax changes, except as part of the mixed together lump of many tax changes (and many other factors).