ITEP: Supply Side Economics Doesn’t Work

From the Institution on Taxation and Economic Policy (http://www.itep.org/):

The myth that tax cuts for the wealthy are self-financing and eventually trickle down to everyone else has continued to be pushed by supply-side economics enthusiasts for more than four decades, in spite of mounds of evidence that demonstrate tax cuts for the rich benefit the rich.

As ITEP’s new video above (https://www.facebook.com/instituteontaxation/videos/1554858151209771/) illustrates, supply-side tax and budget policies rely on the disproven theory that rich people will spend more and thus stimulate the economy and create jobs. The pitch for these tax cuts almost never concedes that government spending on education, public safety, food inspection, health care, infrastructure, etc., is necessary, benefits all of us and cost money. Nor does it acknowledge that over the last 40 years, workers have become more productive while median household income has stagnated and wealth has concentrated at the top. In other words, supply-side (more accurately know as trickle-down) economic policies do not work for the vast majority of Americans.

For more on the error of supply-side economics, read: Lawmakers Should Not Use Disproven Trickle-Down Myth to Ramrod Tax Cuts for the Rich

For an even deeper dive, read our in-depth analysis that dismantles an economic model behind “supply-side” 

And ICYMI, check out Fairness Matters, a chart book based on ITEP’s Who Pays? data that demonstrates state tax systems are uniformly regressive, meaning they tax the poor more, and makes the case for more progressive tax policies.

Also, see, Guiding Principles for Tax Reform, a piece that argues federal tax reforms should raise revenue, not exacerbate income inequality and close loopholes and ensure corporation pay their fair share.

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