Tax Cuts
By This is old news, and I don’t have much to add, but it’s worth remembering when you find yourself confronted by a Reagan-addled wingnut:
The answer, of course, is that Reagan didn’t grow his way out of the deficits caused by his 1981 tax cut. He raised taxes twice in 1982, and then raised them again in 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, and 1987. But even with those seven tax increases and several years of strong growth, he still didn’t get rid of his deficit.
It took an eighth tax hike from George Bush Sr. in 1989, a ninth in 1990, a tenth from Bill Clinton in 1993, and then another economic boom to erase the deficit. Sure, a strong economy helped, but without all those tax increases the deficit would never have disappeared.
From Kevin Drum.