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pampango

(24,692 posts)
Thu Feb 28, 2013, 11:29 AM Feb 2013

CAP: Republicans Ignore (and suppress) the Evidence About Higher Taxes on the Wealthy

My first thought is that "Republicans Ignore the Evidence About ..." is a useful beginning to any headline of a story about republican policies on anything.

Think Again: Republicans Ignore the Evidence About Higher Taxes on the Wealthy

Shortly before Election Day in November, The New York Times published a report about a Congressional Research Service study that had been withdrawn after publication due to demands by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). The economic report, “Taxes and the Economy: An Economic Analysis of the Top Tax Rates Since 1945,” “found no correlation between top tax rates and economic growth.” This means that increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans would not actually harm the economy in the way congressional Republicans have been asserting.

The study in question did not receive much attention before it was censored. Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) mentioned it in a speech at the National Press Club, but only after it was pulled. Speaking to The Times, Sen. Schumer objected to what he termed the “banana republic” aspects of the Republicans’ actions, referring to the idea of a ruling plutocracy making the politically important decisions for the entire nation: “They didn’t like a report, and instead of rebutting it, they had them take it down.”

The study findings then began to receive widespread media coverage. Among them:

The reduction in the top tax rates appears to be uncorrelated with saving, investment, and productivity growth. The top tax rates appear to have little or no relation to the size of the economic pie.

However, the top tax rate reductions appear to be associated with the increasing concentration of income at the top of the income distribution. As measured by IRS data, the share of income accruing to the top 0.1% of U.S. families increased from 4.2% in 1945 to 12.3% by 2007 before falling to 9.2% due to the 2007–2009 recession. At the same time, the average tax rate paid by the top 0.1% fell from over 50% in 1945 to about 25% in 2009. Tax policy could have a relation to how the economic pie is sliced—lower top tax rates may be associated with greater income disparities.

You can read the entire report, authored by Thomas L. Hungerford, a specialist in public finance with a doctorate in economics from the University of Michigan, here.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/media/news/2013/02/28/54989/republicans-ignore-the-evidence-about-higher-taxes-on-the-wealthy/

As the story details, republicans did not just ignore the evidence about higher taxes on the wealthy; they actively suppressed this evidence.
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CAP: Republicans Ignore (and suppress) the Evidence About Higher Taxes on the Wealthy (Original Post) pampango Feb 2013 OP
Republicans are to facts mikeysnot Feb 2013 #1
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