Jordan Ellenberg — Math vs. Reaganomics: Why GOP’s anti-tax hysteria falls flat

There’s nothing wrong with the Laffer curve—only with the uses people put it to. Wanniski and the politicians who followed his panpipe fell prey to the oldest false syllogism in the book:

It could be the case that lowering taxes will increase government revenue;

I want it to be the case that lowering taxes will increase government revenue;

Therefore, it is the case that lowering taxes will increase government revenue.

Salon
Math vs. Reaganomics: Why GOP’s anti-tax hysteria falls flat
Jordan Ellenberg | Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Mathematics, University of Wisconsin

Bruce Bartlett — “Taxes and a Two-Santa Theory" -The Origin of Modern Republican Fiscal Policy

Wondering where the Ryan budget comes from?

In 1976, the journalist Jude Wanniski wrote an essay, “Taxes and a Two-Santa Theory,” little noticed at the time and virtually unknown today, that put forward a theory that has had extraordinary influence on the Republican Party. Indeed, virtually everything Republicans say about taxes and spending today echoes that theory.

Read it at The New York Times | Economix
The Origin of Modern Republican Fiscal Policy
By Bruce Bartlett
(h/t Mark Thoma)