Economics Atlas

How Wealth Is Ordered
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Does cutting tax rates below their observed real-world range actually raise government revenue, as the Laffer Curve implies is possible?

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The Laffer Curve's logic (zero revenue at 0% and 100% tax rates, so some intermediate rate maximizes revenue) is not itself disputed, but whether actual, real-world tax rates sit on the curve's revenue-losing side, so that a cut would pay for itself, is a live empirical dispute between supply-side economists and the mainstream consensus. A 2012 University of Chicago IGM Forum survey of leading economists found essentially no support among them for the claim that cutting federal income tax rates would raise revenue within five years.

What would resolve this A settled empirical estimate of where actual tax rates sit relative to the revenue-maximizing point, which depends on contested behavioral-response (elasticity) estimates that differ sharply between supply-side and mainstream public finance economists.
OpenPublic finance and empirical tax policy economicsWikipedia
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Laffer Curve, Concepts
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Wikimedia FoundationArthur Laffer, Criticism and ControversyView the Source
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