re: #733 goddamnedfrank

Did you even notice that Laffer conveniently omitted the change in the Consumer Price Index in the 22 years of this sample? I don’t care who pulls this kind of bullshit half truth stunt to make an ideological point, it still stinks. The reason that the number of people paying no tax has increased by 73% in that same time period is because they now have no money left to tax.

Oh please…the next two paragraphs…stop reading the NYT. This is the big leagues.

Looking at the last two business cycles (first year of recovery to first year of recovery), this low-income group experienced a 10% rise in their inflation-adjusted after-tax incomes from 1983 to 1992 and then another 11% rise from 1992 to 2002). Roughly speaking, the Reagan and Clinton presidencies were equally good for them. Income gains over the last 30 years have been systematically understated due to several factors. These include:

- Fall in people per household. The gains in household income undercount the actual gains per person, because the average number of people living in low-income households has been shrinking. On a per capita basis, the real income gain for low-income households was 44% from 1983 to 2005, about 22% from 1983 to 1992 and about 18% from 1992 to 2002. These are excellent numbers by any measure.

get hooked on phonics before you get so bent out of shape.