Trickle Down, My Ass

David Cay Johnson:

And what of taxes? The 2001 and 2003 tax cuts were promoted as keys to prosperity. Now Mitt Romney, virtually all Republicans and a fair number of Democrats say more tax cuts will make us prosper. President Barack Obama wants to cut corporate tax rates by a third.
Again, measured per capita, the IRS data show a pattern of shrinking numbers, with modest upticks in 2010.
Individual income taxes in 2010 averaged $2,995, down $1,654 or almost 36 percent from 2000. Use 2001 as the base year — because it was both a recession year and the first year of the temporary George W. Bush tax cuts — and in 2010 per capita income tax revenues were down one third.
In 2011, as the economy improved slightly, income tax revenues rose, but were still 26 percent smaller than in 2000.
The bottom line: less income, hardly any more jobs, sharply increased mortgage debt and Washington ledgers awash in red ink as voters are asked to endorse even more tax cuts.
How many years of evidence does it take to establish that a policy worked or failed?
Will continuing our current tax, credit and trade policies produce favorable results in the future? Will they produce higher incomes?

Let me answer those last three questions.  How many years of evidence does it take to establish that tax cuts don't grow the economy?  For Republicans, evidence doesn't matter if it bumps up against belief.  Will continuing the current policies produce favorable results?  Fuck no, unless you consider huge deficits and a terrible economy favorable.  Will they produce higher incomes?  Yes, for the richest of the rich.  No for everybody else.  Right now, the people who won't spend the money are the ones getting more and more of it.  It just isn't going to work out well without making major changes.  And I don't mean more tax cuts.