August 15, 2011 by David K. Sutton
We Need The Trickle To Stop
I’ve written before about the failed ideology of trickle-down economics. It amazes me that so many prominent Republicans can continue to support this lie despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary. If tax cuts create jobs then how do we explain the past 10 years of the Bush tax cuts? If increasing taxes kills jobs then how do we explain the 1990s? If higher tax rates mean that investors will flee then how do we explain the much higher tax rates in the many decades leading up to the 1980s? You probably heard that billionaire Warren Buffett famously said that his secretary pays a higher percentage in taxes then he does. Warren is again raising awareness to the failed ideology of trickle-down economics in a New York Times Op-Ed article. Below is an excerpt from that article.
Back in the 1980s and 1990s, tax rates for the rich were far higher, and my percentage rate was in the middle of the pack. According to a theory I sometimes hear, I should have thrown a fit and refused to invest because of the elevated tax rates on capital gains and dividends.
I didn’t refuse, nor did others. I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone — not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 — shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain. People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off. And to those who argue that higher rates hurt job creation, I would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. You know what’s happened since then: lower tax rates and far lower job creation.
Stop Coddling the Super-Rich – NYTimes.com by Warren Buffett
