{"article":{"id":295685,"heading":"Why Tax Cuts for the Rich Solve Nothing by Joseph Stiglitz","author":"Joseph Stiglitz","created":"2017-08-25 16:36:42","modified":"2017-08-25 16:36:42","last_modified":"Fri, 25 Aug 2017 23:36:42","article":"https:\/\/www.project-syndicate.org\/commentary\/tax-cuts-for-the-rich-solve-nothing-by-joseph-e--stiglitz-2017-07<\/a>

Although America’s right-wing plutocrats may disagree about how to rank the country’s major problems – for example, inequality, slow growth, low productivity, opioid addiction, poor schools, and deteriorating infrastructure – the solution is always the same: lower taxes and deregulation, to “incentivize” investors and “free up” the economy. President Donald Trump is counting on this package to make America great again.

It won’t, because it never has. When President Ronald Reagan tried it in the 1980s, he claimed that tax revenues would rise. Instead, growth slowed, tax revenues fell, and workers suffered. The big winners in relative terms were corporations and the rich, who benefited from dramatically reduced tax rates.

Trump has yet to advance a specific tax proposal. But, unlike his administration’s approach to health-care legislation, lack of transparency will not help him.\n","contact":"marc1seed@yahoo.com","link":"www.freembtranslations.net","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"In a country with so many problems \u2013 especially inequality \u2013 tax cuts for rich corporations will not solve any of them. This is a lesson for all countries contemplating corporate tax breaks \u2013 even those without the misfortune of being led by a callow, craven plutocrat.\r\n","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2017\/08\/295685.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}