ECO 200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Walter Heller, Herbert Stein, Tax Rate
Document Summary
John f. kennedy lowered taxes, but supply siders wrongly claim he is their patron saint. Since the drive to pass ronald reagan"s tax cuts in the 1980s republicans have often invoked john f. kennedy as the patron saint of supply side economics. For several years now conservative groups have used jfk"s name and words to depict. Republican tax cuts skewed toward the rich as part of a grand bipartisan tradition. The republicans are right, up to a point. Kennedy did push tax cuts, and his plan, which passed in february 1964, three months after his death did help spur economic growth. But they are wrong to see the tax reduction as a supply side tax cut like reagan and bush"s; it was a demand side tax cut. The revenue act of 1964 was aimed at the demand, rather than the supply of the economy. The distinction, taught in economics 101, seldom makes it into the washington sound bite wars.
