CTJ: Art Laffer’s travelling fiscal circus

The Laffer Curve. With thanks to www.and-smith.com

From Citizens for Tax Justice in the U.S.:

“It is a truism in Washington that being wrong does not preclude one from wielding influence. There are, however, some pundits who are so egregiously wrong that it boggles the mind to find policymakers taking their advice.

Art Laffer is one of these pundits.

Laffer, an economist most famous for developing consequential fiscal policy on the back of cocktail napkins, is the father of supply-side economics. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, it basically means that cutting taxes for the wealthy will create a rising economic tide that lifts all boats. Three decades of empirical research says this notion is false.

And yet here is Art Laffer, barnstorming the country to spread the gospel of tax cuts to red-state governors, with predictably disastrous results. Not content to have started a bender of deficit spending and ill-advised tax cuts during the Reagan years, Laffer and his associates have turned their sights on state budgets. Recent news from the states that have fallen for their shenanigans tell the tale.”

Now read on.