In the letter, 'Where are the facts?' the author requests evidence from those who support conservative economic values and he attacks the idea of trickle down economics .
Though nobody can prove that trickle down economics works, we certainly can provide historical evidence that it does. During JFK's term, he brought income taxes to the rich down from 94 percent to 70 percent.
His term is known for the greatest post-WWII prosperity ever. After WWI, taxes for the wealthy was 73 percent. The Revenues Act lowered it to 25 percent from 1921 to 1926. During this period, tax revenue went from $719 million to $1.16 billion. The pie got bigger even though taxes went down. A study done by the Joint Economic Committee of Congress tracked the income of 14,351 randomly selected people during the Regan's trickle down economics era . Almost 86 percent of those who started in the bottom class in 1979 had climbed to a higher class by 1988.
As for welfare, the author says that due to Clinton's increase in welfare spending, welfare roles dropped. However, he forgot to mention that in 1995, a Republican dominated congress pushed and passed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act. This legislation was specifically designed to lower welfare usage by helping people find jobs. Thanks to the author, we know that welfare usage dropped by '53 percent from 1996-2000.'
But even if you don't buy any of these statistics, trickle down economics is justified on a moral level. Nobody deserves or should be forced to have higher taxes just because they make more money. The more taxes there are on the higher classes, the less incentive there is for people to increase their incomes.
Jason H. Smith
Ashburn, Virg.
Roy Richter
Kingwood, Texas