2003 Tax Cut Archive

[Part of the Taxation Survey]

Taxes then and now

Chronology

1992

January
Integration of the Individual and Corporate Tax Systems: Taxing Business Income Once
Glenn Hubbard’s 1992 paper on integrating taxes.

2002

10/31
Do Lower Taxes Mean Faster Economic Growth?
Jeff Madrick, writing in The New York Times, surveys the empirical evidence against long-run stimulative effects of tax cuts.
12/4
Hey, lucky duckies!
Paul Krugman responds to The Wall Street Journal.
12/8
If Tax History Is a Guide, the Poor Are in Trouble
Roger Altman surveys the Republican Party’s historical antipathy to tax relief for those with lower incomes, and notes that a Brookings study by Joseph Pechman in the 1980s indicated that the totality of the American tax system does not effectively change the state of income distribution.
12/15
ARE TAXES TOO CONCENTRATED AT THE TOP?
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities responds to The Wall Street Journal’s infamous editorial, “Lucky Duckies.”

2003

1/7

Talking Points for KQED Forum 1/8/2003 9:00 AM PST
Former Clinton economist J. Bradford DeLong organizes enumeration of the probable effects of the Bush tax cut in preparation for a radio appearance.
It's Time for Glenn Hubbard to Quit as CEA Chair
DeLong calls for Hubbard’s resignation in view of Hubbard’s pejorative use of the phrase “Rubinomics” in direct contradiction to the spirit of his own text.
1/8
After Action Report: KQED Forum 1/8/2003
“Post-game summary.”
1/11
Two Defenses of Glenn Hubbard
Brad DeLong responds to defenses of Glen Hubbard.
1/15
GREENSTEIN ASSESSES BUSH PLAN
A concise press release from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities on the ramifications of the Bush tax cut.
1/17
Off the Wagon
Paul Krugman on tax cuts and deficits.
1/18
Gale and Orszag Provide an Informed View
Brad DeLong introduces Brookings analysis of the tax cut.
1/19
What Every American Wants
Milton Friedman, writing in The Wall Street Journal, tells us:

Tax cuts may initially raise the deficit above the politically tolerable deficit, but their longer-term effect will be to restrain spending.

1/20
Comments: Tax divide
A discussion from Jane Galt’s Assymetrical Information in response to Friedman’s column.
Glen Hubbard
Brad DeLong reviews the inconsistencies of the Bush administration economist’s statements in office from his prior textbook passages.
Lucky Duckies Again
The Gamma Quadrant holdouts at The Wall Street Journal editorial board throw their hands up in horror at the alleged benefits to the poor of the Bush tax cut.
1/21
A (Very Short) Guide for the Perplexed
Paul Krugman on the motivations behind the tax cut.
A Touch of Class
Paul Krugman on the motivations behind the tax cut.
The Administration's Economic "Stimulus" Proposals
Peter Orszag’s testimony.
1/22
Meme Watch: Follow the Money
Chatterbox’s Timothy Noah on the true beneficiaries of the Welfare State.
1/23
Do Budget Deficits Raise Interest Rates?
Brad DeLong introduces an article in The Economist on fiscal profligacy’s impact on interest rates.
Where's the Bang for the Buck?
Jeff Madrick on the cut’s effect on investment.
1/27
The President's Tax Proposal: Second Thoughts
Gale and Orszag revisit the proposal.
1/30
Testimony of R. Glenn Hubbard Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers [PDF]

The Bush administration’s chief economist on the tax cut.
1/31
Where Is the Beef Supposed to Be?
Brad DeLong examines the fiscal and economic logic of the tax cut vis a vis its probable impact on interest rates.
Doing Corporate Tax Integration the Right Way
Brad DeLong quotes Len Burman on taxing income once with a bit of subsequent debate of the total American tax burden.
2/3
An Interview with R. Glenn Hubbard on the Fundamentals of Tax Reform
From The Library of Economics and Liberty.
2/4
Huh?
Brad DeLong on a Glenn Hubbard assertion on deficits and interest rates.
2/5
Deficits and Interest Rates Once Again
Brad DeLong on Glenn Hubbard, Bill Gale, and interest rates.
3/3
Do We Really Need More Stimulus?
Economics blogger Arnold Kling introduces Eugene Steurle’s essay questioning whether any stimulus is needed at all.
3/11
A Fiscal Train Wreck
Paul Krugman on the potential threat to fiscal solvency created by the accumulated Bush tax cuts.
3/19
THE ADMINISTRATION’S TAX CUTS AND THE LONG-TERM BUDGET OUTLOOK
Peter Orszag, Richard Kogan, and Robert Greenstein, writing for the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, calculate that the Bush administration’s accumulated tax cut proposals cost more than “three times the Long-term Deficit in Social Security and Larger than the Long-term Deficits in Social Security and Medicare Combined.”
3/21
Who Lost the U.S. Budget?
Paul Krugman on the tax cut’s threat to Social Security and Medicare.
3/26
Dynamic Scoring Is Zero...
CBO says tax cut will not pay for itself.
4/1
Alan Murray Reports on Dynamic Scoring
4/26
It's an Industrial Sealant! No, It's a Dessert Topping!
DeLong introduces Krugman on the many uses of the tax cut.
4/27
Deficits and Interest Rates
Brad DeLong on Glenn Hubbard’s tricking of a newswire reporter.
4/28
Tax Gamble
Jonathan Rauch, writing in the libertarian Reason magazine, on Bush’s tax cut as a pre-emptive fiscal strike.
4/30
Alan Greenspan Undercuts Bush Tax Cut
An AP report on Greenspan’s testimony calling for the tax cut to be paid for.
4/30
Notes: Mankiw: Charlatans and Cranks
DeLong finds an introductory economic text’s treatment of supply-side assertions.
5/4
Notes: Budget Deficits and Economic Growth Once Again
DeLong introduces Gale and Orszag once again on interest rates.
5/12
NEW CBO DATA SHOW DEFICIT WILL BE HIGHER THAN EARLIER FORECAST AS REVENUES
CBPP on the tax cuts effects on revenues.
5/22
The Distribution
The Tax Policy Center’s chart showing who pays under the plan.
5/27
Stating the Obvious
Paul Krugman on snuffing out the Welfare State. Bobby’s synopsis:
“Radical conservatives are intentionally creating huge deficits so that the
government cannot finance its spending and so that there will be a radical downsizing of government programs for the middle class and poor”
5/28
An Email From the United States Treasury
Brad DeLong on the paucity of support for the tax cut from Republican economists.
Fiscal Facts
Paul Krugman on the excellence of CBPP and the Brookings/Urban Tax Policy Center.
The Tax Cut with William Gale
An online chat transcript.
5/30
Eight Million
The Tax Policy Center’s chart showing the eight million income taxpayers whose taxes aren’t cut.
6/2
Taking the Voodoo Out of Tax Cuts
Tax-cuts don’t stimulate demand, says Brian Wesbury. Throw away your reputable economics textbooks!
Wesbury on Tax Cuts
Arnold Kling initiates a discussion on Wesbury’s article.
Why Are We Ruled by These Idiots? CXII
The New Republic points out the Republicans’ child credit shell games.
6/4
Distribution Tables
“The studies included all federal taxes (although its not clear what assumptions they made as to the incidence of the corporate income tax). In short, they both conclude "that a broad swath of lower-middle, middle- and upper-middle-income people, as well as some rich Americans, will carry a greater share of the federal tax burden after the laws passed in the past three years are fully implemented. While taxes are scheduled to decline for all income groups, those earning more than $28,000 but less than $337,000 will end up paying a greater share of the taxes than they did before the changes."
6/25
Bill Gale on JGTRRA
“The Brookings Institution's Bill Gale on the economic effects of the recent Bush tax cut”
6/27
Budget Blues
Tax Policy center on the tax cuts budgetary effects.