[Toddsterpatriot]

indexing of individual income tax parameters did not begin until 1985.

Yes, I saw that. I was answering your question in post #42:How would fixing the bracket-creep problem cause revenues to drop?

Hence, the 11.4 percent drop in real individual income tax revenues from 1981 to 1984 could not possibly have been due to the fixing the bracket-creep problem in 1985.

I didn't say that it was. You never answered my question. With the double dip recession and without the tax cut, how much should revenues have dropped? You can't blame a tax cut for revenues that were lost because of a recession, can you?

[remember]

You can't blame a tax cut for revenues that were lost because of a recession, can you?

True. But neither can you credit a tax cut for revenues that increase due to the recovery from a recession. The following graph shows receipts, outlays, and deficits since 1981:

The actual numbers and sources are at http://home.att.net/~rdavis2/mts.html. As you can see, the recovery from the 1980-82 recession was no more impressive that either of the recoveries that we've had since then. In addition, the graph shows two problems with the original article by Jerry Bowyer that started this thread. As you can see from his chart in post #7 above, Bowyer did not correct his revenue numbers for inflation. In addition, he was very selective in showing only the last four years. As the graph above shows, inflation-corrected revenues are still well below their 2000 highs. Hence, Bowyer is bragging about a partial recovery from a very deep drop in revenues.