Really? You have the actual revenue numbers for this period?
I see that you posted those numbers from a table that I posted at http://home.att.net/~rdavis2/recsrc02.html. No fair using my own numbers against me! The fact is, in trying to answer all the questions from you, expat, and ChessExpert, I got a little sloppy in my answer to you. I looked quickly at the following graph and saw that individual income tax revenues did drop sharply from 1982 to 1984 as a percentage of GDP:
The actual numbers and sources are at http://home.att.net/~rdavis2/recsrc.html. I also glanced at the second graph at that URL and noted that, corrected for inflation, total revenues dropped for two years (though I see now that it was from 1981 to 1983). In any case, I didn't qualify my statement as a percentage of GDP or corrected for inflation. So you're correct that, in current dollars, individual income tax revenues only dropped from 1982 to 1983, not 1982 to 1984. Still, the graphs and numbers do not suggest to me that Reagan's first tax cut "paid for itself" in the sense of tax revenues being higher than they would have been otherwise.
Given the limitations of the Laffer curve that I listed in the previous message, I don't think there is enough historical data to answer those questions.
You're kidding about this part, right? Did that reduction in taxes help the economy to grow faster and did it result in higher after tax income for America's citizens?
You want to try again? I don't think you even need to know what the Laffer Curve is to admit that lower tax rates would increase after tax income.
Once again, in answering your message too quickly, I misread your question about "did it result in higher after tax income for America's citizens" as "did it result in higher tax revenues". Of course, a tax cut will result in higher after tax income. That's its chief goal. It's not a free lunch but it is a lunch, so to speak.
Anyhow, I cannot keep up with all of the questions from you, expat, and ChessExpert. If you have any questions you really want answered, perhaps the three of you can confer and put one or two questions or points into a common posting. Otherwise, I'll just have to pick and choose among your questions and answer a few of them as I have time.