Jeb! Bush Would Like Some Disastrous Tax Cuts Named After Him Please

A bold break from the past

In his continuing effort to prove that he's his own man, Jeb! Bush released his exciting new tax plan Thursday, which sounds an awful lot like his brother's plan, except with added steroids for extra-bigger cuts in taxes on the rich. Only this time, the supply-side wish will really come true, because Jeb! Bush has a magic feather that he promises will make us all fly. And all we need to do is believe. And maybe work a lot longer. 

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So what's in this dog's breakfast? How about deep cuts on the top individual tax rate, the corporate tax rate, and capital gains taxes, for starters? Oh, and also a complete elimination of estate taxes, so that sons and daughters of millionaires won't be reduced to penury, plus an end to the alternative minimum tax, because if you've managed to avoid all the other taxes, you should be able to avoid that, too. The package throws in a few perks for people at the bottom of the income range, like an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit, to ensure future Fox News commentaries complaining that poor people don't pay any taxes. You have to take care of your core constituents, after all.

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And hey, big surprise: for all Jeb's promises that this radical cut in government revenue will spur 4 percent annual growth, which not even the boom years under Bill Clinton managed, it turns out that it's all bullshit! 

[There] isn't a lot of reason to think it'd help the economy that much. That's because, as William Gale of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center puts it, "major changes in tax policy have had negligible impacts on the economy." Indeed, the economy took off after Bill Clinton raised taxes in 1993, but didn't after George W. Bush reduced them in 2001.

Unpossible! This William Gale is clearly part of the War on Christianity, since faith in tax cuts is a key part of following Republican Jesus. Why, next they'll be saying that $3.4 trillion in cuts over 10 years adds up to more lost revenue than any economic stimulus could ever hope to catch up with. All you have to do is believe that this time, if we just cut taxes enough, and follow it up by slashing the social safety net a little more (but leave Corporate Welfare alone, because Jerb Creators), it will really, really work. Won't you all please believe? And pray? Oh, and if you can manage to be born rich, that would help you out a hell of a lot, too.

[ WaPo / Bloomberg ]