“Death and Taxes” by Kevin Drum, Mother Jones – July 2020

The track record of taxation policies over the last 40 years, as outlined by Kevin Drum, paints a commanding picture of the fallacies of such taxation policies and provides convincing evidence of failures of fiscal policies promoted and imposed by Republican administrations.

• The Trump tax cut failed to deliver for all but the very rich. The GOP thinks this is the perfect time for more.
• In 1980 Ronald Reagan promised to cut taxes for everyone, especially for the rich. He insisted that it would trickle down to everyone and supercharge the economy, which included slashing some social safety net programs. Well, the rich got lower taxes, but the economy flat-lined and the deficit skyrocketed.
• In 1993 Bill Clinton passed a tax increase to reduce the deficit. The Republicans insisted that it would cripple the economy. Instead, the economy boomed and the deficit soared into a surplus.
• In 2001 and in 2003 George W. Bush passed a tax cut. The Republicans said it would supercharge the economy. It produced the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
• IN 2013 Barack Obama forced the Republicans to accept a tax increase on high earners. The Republicans insisted that it would cripple the economy. The deficit declined and Obama produced the longest economic recovery in American history, which continued until the coronavirus pandemic killed it.
• In 2017 the Republicans passed another tax cut which primarily a benefit for the corporations and the rich, insisting that it would supercharge the economy. They were wrong again.
• The Republicans’ big donors only care about lower taxes, nothing else matters. Every single economic indicator that they said would go up, didn’t.
• At the end of 2017 Republicans passed a $1.5 trillion tax cut, cutting taxes personal and corporate income.
• Republicans have long been devoted to the strategy called “starve the beast” which has a simple goal: cut taxes, watch revenues fall, and insist that spending be cut to avoid budget deficits. The rich get most of the tax cuts and the spending cuts are aimed at the poor and middle class.

There you have it. We need to elect Democratic government in November so we can get on a path to a more stable and equally beneficial economy for all Americans.