All in Taxes

Trumped up trickle-down: How hype clouds the tax issue

Trumped up trickle-down: How hype clouds the tax issue

Tatiana Prophet
Taxes

By TATIANA PROPHET

A fool and his money are soon parted. But the deceived and their political self-determination are parted over and over again. Often, it’s the self-deceived politicians who lead their deceived supporters around the same old problems. Especially when it comes to taxes – because the topic is so damn complicated.

Yet understanding the basic issues around taxes and the economy doesn’t have to be painful. Perhaps the first reality we must acknowledge is that economics – and taxes – are not a binary proposition: up/down, yes/no, good/bad.

What happened when JFK lowered taxes?

What happened when JFK lowered taxes?

Tatiana Prophet
Taxes

By TATIANA PROPHET

Conservatives generally seize on the notion that John F. Kennedy cut taxes.

Liberals tend to scoff at this idea, stating why the situation was different.

Let’s examine the facts, looking for balance. It was 1960, and the country was in the middle of a recession caused mainly by the Fed raising the funds rate sharply (they were concerned about inflation as GDP growth in 1959 had been 6.9 percent.