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To: Torie
What do you mean that the Laffer curve is a fraud? The Laffer curve simply state that at a 0% tax rate the government taxes in 0 taxes. Also, at 100% tax rate, the government takes in 0 taxes because nobody works (on the books, anyway).

I think we would both agree that a 1% tax rate would take in very little, as would a 99% tax rate.

Laffer simply said that somewhere between 0% and 100% is the ideal rate for raising revenue, and that there are points on the curve where you can increase revenue by lowering the rate.

We can argue all we want about where the ideal rate is, but on what basis do you state that the curve itself is a fraud?

98 posted on 05/04/2002 5:53:47 PM PDT by Rodney King
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To: Rodney King
Laffer was a professor of mine. He was then, and remained, lighter than air. The Curve was hype city. The informational content that 100% tax rates and 0% tax rates do not maximize revenue is simply not very interesting. He also was a big fan of fixed exchange rates, which was rather odd.
99 posted on 05/04/2002 5:56:10 PM PDT by Torie
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To: Rodney King
I should add that the WSJ ranted for years that the Laffer Curve "proved" that reducing tax rates would increase revenues. Of course there was no proof at all. The thing was written on a napkin in a bar in Hyde Park.
102 posted on 05/04/2002 5:59:23 PM PDT by Torie
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