Thursday, November 30, 2017

REPORT: The Treasury Doesn't Have a Model of How Tax Reform Will Impact the Economy



The economy is much too complex to model it out in detail. And it is especially absurd to do so when claiming tons of revenue will pour into the government because of Laffer curve economics (SEE: Laughing at the Laffer Curve: The Trump Tax Reform Con).

Nevertheless, administrations in the past have rolled out complex economic models created by house economists as a propaganda tool. But not this administration. They don't even have a fake model to back up their
shell game tax "reform."

The New York Times reports:
In pitching the $1.5 trillion tax overhaul, Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, has said repeatedly that the plan will pay for itself through a surge of economic growth and that over 100 people in Treasury are “working around the clock on running scenarios for us.”

Mr. Mnuchin has promised that Treasury will release its analysis in full. Yet, just one day before the full Senate prepares to vote on a sweeping tax rewrite, the administration has yet to produce the type of economic analysis that it is citing as a reason to pass the tax cut.

Those inside Treasury’s Office of Tax Policy, which Mr. Mnuchin has credited with running the models, say they have been largely shut out of the process and are not working on the type of detailed analysis that he has mentioned. An economist at the Office of Tax Analysis, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to jeopardize his job, said Treasury had not released a “dynamic” analysis showing that the tax plan would be paid for with economic growth because one did not exist.
Treasury Secretay Mnuchin is a first class clown.

As Seth Hanlon points out, just two weeks ago Mnuchin claimed that an analysis was complete and it showed powerful government revenue growth:

  -RW

1 comment:

  1. How very sad.
    In other news, the CBO scored recent economic proposals as having a detrimental effect since, if there were a reduction in benefits,people would suffer a loss of purchasing power. Think about it. If money is taken from you in taxes and spent as the government wants, your purchasing power would increase.
    In other, other news, complaints are bein thrown by the Smart Set that Corporations are not re-investing enough of their profits into Plant. It was Milton Friedman who asserted that the rise of the Mega-Corporation came about as tax breaks were given to corporations which diverted profits from share holders into Plant.

    See a common Thread here? With the rise of the Directed Corporate State, we are all becoming Maoists now...

    ReplyDelete