Do tax cuts for rich people create growth? (with Bruce Bartlett)

Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

Civic Ventures

Business, Government, News, Politics

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 29 January 2019

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Since forever, Republicans have insisted that cutting taxes on wealthy corporations and individuals would grow the economy, create jobs, and lift wages. But it never does. As an early architect of what became “Reaganomics,” Bruce Bartlett was there at the birth of this GOP tax myth. He joins the podcast to help set the record straight. Bruce Bartlett: American historian who helped draft the Kemp-Roth tax bill that formed the basis of President Reagan’s 1981 tax cuts. Served as domestic policy adviser for Reagan, in the Treasury for George H.W. Bush, and in senior roles for other American politicians. Former Executive Director of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress. Twitter: @BruceBartlett Further reading: Want to Expand the Economy? Tax the Rich! https://prospect.org/article/want-expand-economy-tax-rich I helped create the GOP tax myth. Trump is wrong: Tax cuts don’t equal growth. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/09/28/i-helped-create-the-gop-tax-myth-trump-is-wrong-tax-cuts-dont-equal-growth/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.4344a80a6efc

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The major media still treat the Republicans as if they are the party of fiscal responsibility
0:08.7	when in fact all the evidence of the last 20-some years is exactly the opposite.
0:15.4	Getting the public to believe that low taxes for rich people will benefit them
0:22.0	turns out to be the best way ever devised to get
0:24.4	policy makers to enact those tax cuts.
0:27.1	Our massive tax cuts provide tremendous relief for the middle class and
0:31.3	small business. The truth is they're rank hypocrites and liars.
0:35.0	From the offices of Civic Ventures in downtown Seattle, this is Pitch Fork Economics, with Nick Hanauer.
0:47.0	One American capitalist take on how we got into this mess and how we can get out.
0:58.0	I'm Nick Henauer, founder of Civic Ventures.
1:11.0	In the last episode of Pitchfork Economics we talked about the American dream and is it dead or is it dying? Can we bring it back?
1:12.0	And in this episode we're going to talk to
1:13.6	something that is closely related to that, which is the tax cuts for rich people
1:19.6	create economic growth. And today I'm super happy to have my colleague
1:25.6	Jessen Farrell joining us to talk about that. Jessen, it's a ton of experience working in the legislature in Washington State.
1:33.0	We fought these fights a lot, and so we're going to chit-chat about tax cuts.
1:38.0	Hi there, I'm Jessen Farrell and I am a former state representative from
1:46.6	Northeast Seattle and in the legislature I served for five years fighting for
1:51.0	working families and now I work with Nick Hanauer at Civic Ventures.
1:56.1	So there isn't a more common claim in our economic discussions then the idea that tax cuts for rich people create growth
2:08.5	or tax cuts for big corporations create growth. It's a thing that has been offered to Americans again and again and again and again and again for decades now,
2:18.0	starting of course with Ronald Reagan and the neoliberal's in the late 70s and early 80s.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Civic Ventures, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Civic Ventures and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.