GOP ‘trickle down’ economics disproved and discredited, once again

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

According to a new report by the Congressional Research Service, cutting
taxes for the wealthiest does not result in economic growth, despite
constant conservative claims to the contrary. But you already knew that. New Study Finds Tax Cuts For The Rich Cause Income Inequality, Not Economic Growth:

Instead, tax cuts for the rich merely exacerbate income inequality, CRS found:

Throughout the late-1940s and 1950s, the top marginal tax
rate was typically above 90%; today it is 35%. Additionally, the top
capital gains tax rate was 25% in the 1950s and 1960s, 35% in the 1970s;
today it is 15%. The real GDP growth rate averaged 4.2% and real per
capita GDP increased annually by 2.4% in the 1950s. In the 2000s, the
average real GDP growth rate was 1.7% and real per capita GDP increased
annually by less than 1%. There is not conclusive evidence,
however, to substantiate a clear relationship between the 65-year steady
reduction in the top tax rates and economic growth. Analysis of such
data suggests the reduction in the top tax rates have had little
association with saving, investment, or productivity growth. However,
the top tax rate reductions appear to be associated with the increasing
concentration of income at the top of the income distribution.

* * *

This jibes with other recent studies that show little relationship
between the top tax rate and economic growth. A new analysis by Owen M.
Zidar, a former staff economist on President Obama’s Council of Economic
Advisers and a graduate student at California-Berkeley, found that “a
one percent of GDP tax cut for the bottom 90% results in 2.7 percentage
points of GDP growth over a two-year period. The corresponding estimate
for the top 10% is 0.13 percentage points and is insignificant statistically.” GDP growth, business investment, and a host of other economic indicators were all stronger
during the 1990s, after taxes were raised on the rich, than during the
supply-side eras of Presidents George W. Bush and Reagan.

Faith based supply-side "trickle down" GOP economics needs to be consigned to the ash heap of history. We are never going to advance economically as long as a cottage industry of billionaire-funded think tanks continues to promote magical thinking and belief in fairy tales for the benefit of their billionaire benefactors.