The trickle-down experiment in Kansas of Governor Sam Brownback has been an eye-opener. As Catherine Rampell explains in today's Washington Post, Republicans have claimed for years that tax cuts for the wealthy would lead to an economic boom so profound that economic growth would explode. They've never really got to try it nationally. So, let's let Kansas be our stand-in. Ooops.
The consequences in Kansas, after all, are a result of fulfilling the great Laffer Curve dream that has Republican presidential hopefuls such as Marco Rubio, Scott Walker and Chris Christie all salivating: dramatic tax cuts, concentrated among those at the top, coupled with the promise that such action will, through trickle-down voodoo, increase tax revenue and boost economic growth.
In the real world, politicians rarely get to carry out that budget plan in a big way. Then Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) came along and, with a Republican legislature on his side, passed sweeping tax cuts in 2012. Despite faith-based forecasts promising bountiful revenue, tax receipts have come in, again and again, hundreds of million dollars below projections. The latest estimates leave the state with a $422 million shortfall for the fiscal year beginning July 1.
School districts across the state are closing schools early to account for the shortfall and making plans to shorten the school year next year to try to close the gap.But rather than acknowledging that this tax “experiment,” as it’s been white-washed, has failed and needs to be reversed, Brownback and Republican legislators have mostly doubled down. To make up for the shortfalls, the state has hacked away at core services, from roads to welfare.
Is it plain yet that GOP ideas don't work, unless of course you're among the top 1% for whom tax cuts are just ducky?
No comments:
Post a Comment