Live data from Hacker News

Tax cuts for the wealthy only benefit the rich (2023)

lse.ac.uk

51–60 of 218 posts

Re: Tax cuts for the wealthy only benefit the rich (2023)

#51

The thing I don't like about this is that it treats trickle-down economics as if it's something that needs to be debunked. Trickle-down economics has never been a real economic policy, and never been seriously advocated by federal policy-makers. It is an entirely pejorative term created by detractors of supply-side economics. The policies of supply-side economics, however, are much more defensible, but it seems peopl…

[deleted]

Re: Tax cuts for the wealthy only benefit the rich (2023)

#52
post #21

Can we please tax the negative effect that big money has on the rest of us? I mean I'm perfectly fine with people who work hard making a lot of money. But that changes once that money is used against me. From that moment on I want to be compensated for damages, and the best way to do it is through taxes.

Problem is those taxes just get funneled to things taxpayers don’t even support.

Re: Tax cuts for the wealthy only benefit the rich (2023)

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So do %s/trickle-down/supply-side/g , then, if it's the term that's bothering you. Doesn't "debunking" trickle-down economics then, by extension, debunk supply-side economics? I'm not clear on the meaningful difference

I don't know regex, but to be clear: trickle-down economics and supply-side economics are very different things. I don't blame you for conflating them since they are intentionally very confusing. One is a policy and the other is basically the name of a common criticism for that policy. For example, the Cartesian circle does not refer to any of the many mathematical advancements Rene Descartes discovered. Instead, it'…

I mean, one is a name of a policy used by supporters, and the other is another name of the same policy used by critics? Name an actual difference?

Re: Tax cuts for the wealthy only benefit the rich (2023)

#54

The thing I don't like about this is that it treats trickle-down economics as if it's something that needs to be debunked. Trickle-down economics has never been a real economic policy, and never been seriously advocated by federal policy-makers. It is an entirely pejorative term created by detractors of supply-side economics. The policies of supply-side economics, however, are much more defensible, but it seems peopl…

So no candidate ran on tax cuts? Explicitly for high income earners?

Re: Tax cuts for the wealthy only benefit the rich (2023)

#55

The thing I don't like about this is that it treats trickle-down economics as if it's something that needs to be debunked. Trickle-down economics has never been a real economic policy, and never been seriously advocated by federal policy-makers. It is an entirely pejorative term created by detractors of supply-side economics. The policies of supply-side economics, however, are much more defensible, but it seems peopl…

I always like to approach this conversation with a question: Should business that actually do create jobs in practice get bigger tax breaks? For example, if I by some miracle create a 1 man company that makes $100 million / year profit and somebody else creates a company that makes $100 million / year profit but has 2,000 employees...should the two companies be taxed differently? Walmart employees 1.6 million people…

It would incentivize the wrong things: All else being equal, you want to produce more with less labor and other inputs.

It’s a good thing farming needs an order of magnitude fewer farmers than a century ago.

Re: Tax cuts for the wealthy only benefit the rich (2023)

#56
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know regex, but to be clear: trickle-down economics and supply-side economics are very different things. I don't blame you for conflating them since they are intentionally very confusing. One is a policy and the other is basically the name of a common criticism for that policy. For example, the Cartesian circle does not refer to any of the many mathematical advancements Rene Descartes discovered. Instead, it'…

I mean, one is a name of a policy used by supporters, and the other is another name of the same policy used by critics? Name an actual difference?

One is a policy. The other is not a policy.

I can name you differences, but it's like comparing apples and oranges.

Re: Tax cuts for the wealthy only benefit the rich (2023)

#57
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re describing the Laffer curve. Much of Reagan’s trickle down stuff was based on the idea that we were on the wrong side of the peak.

Yeah, I intentionally referenced the Laffer curve. Essentially I think folks use it to only argue for less taxes, but I think it applies both ways.

Exactly: in political rhetoric, the Laffer Curve is 5% an honest examination of tax tradeoffs and 95% a trojan horse designed to smuggle into the conversation the assumption that we are on the "drowning in taxes" side of the Laffer Curve.

Re: Tax cuts for the wealthy only benefit the rich (2023)

#58
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, when I googled supply-side economics it said it was another name for trickle-down economics. I'm interested in how you'd say they differ, honestly, not trying to be argumentative. I found at least found one analysis (by a left leaning think tank, so take it for what you will) https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-failure-of-supp... that seems to show that supply-side economics hasn't panned out. It see…

I don't know where you're looking, but if you go to the first result for trick-down economics, the Wikipedia page, within the first few lines it mentions how the term is used, and how it was created by detractors of supply-side economics. It's never been a real policy. "the term 'trickle-down economics' was popularized by Democrats in the US to derogate Reaganomics" If you similarly look up supply-side economics, at…

What is the difference between how trickle-down economics is portrayed vs. the actual ideas of supply-side economics? You have to specify how / in what way it's a strawman

Re: Tax cuts for the wealthy only benefit the rich (2023)

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know regex, but to be clear: trickle-down economics and supply-side economics are very different things. I don't blame you for conflating them since they are intentionally very confusing. One is a policy and the other is basically the name of a common criticism for that policy. For example, the Cartesian circle does not refer to any of the many mathematical advancements Rene Descartes discovered. Instead, it'…

You just said trick-down wasn't a real thing so how can you say it's different from supply-side?

By "not real" I mean it's not a real policy. They are different in that one is a policy and the other is not.
Post reply on HN