orb@whuts.UUCP (SEVENER) (12/10/85)
I give great credit to Dave Olson for his research and adherence to the facts even if at times his analysis of those facts has been distorted. I am also glad that he is willing to admit that his data fails to prove that income tax revenues increased but rather that in fact they *decreased* after the 1981 tax cuts. To wit: > A publication called the _Statistical_Abstract_of_the_United_States_1985 > lists the value of inflation, among other things, for various years. > According to it, inflation averaged about 6.5% between 1980 and 1985. I > will concede that income tax revenue adjusted for inflation is less than in > 1981, However having been cut off at every pass our protagonist still is trying to snatch defeat from the jaws of defeat! - > but it cannot be blamed on the tax *rate* cuts. > > I wouldn't claim any trophies just yet if I were you, Tim. > > Consider 10 years earlier. According to the same source, inflation averaged > 6.7% between 1970 and 1975. Federal individual income tax in 1970 was $90.4 > billion, and in 1975, it was $122.4 billion. That means that 1975 income > tax revenues adjusted for inflation was $81.8 billion. That's less than > the adjustment of $84.5 billion in 1970. > > David Olson Well, Dave, I guess that just goes to prove that the ole right-wing shibboleths that the government is taking more and more out of our hides every year may be only a shibboleth! Glad to hear it! At the rate you're going you'll windup as one of us Tip O'Neill "tax and spend" Democrats instead of a Reaganomics voodoo "borrow ,borrow and then borrow some more and spend" Republigun. I would propose that we drop this subject as essentially resolved. To go any further would require economic simulations and multiple regression to control for a myriad of variables in order to leave only the tax decrease effect. I was once in that business as a sociologist but I don't have the time to go out and collect the data, enter it into the computer and do regression run after regression run fine-tuning a model. If you wish to do so, go ahead. I give you great credit for your research and intellectual integrity in this debate. I think we have done an excellent job of debating the facts rather than simply slinging mud and opinions. Let us go on to other topics and continue the same sort of fact-oriented debate. tim sevener whuxn!orb