Debt and taxes - and politics at its most cynical

Washington

A reader once asked: "Do we have any historical evidence that lowering tax rates, particularly among the richest strata, generates economic growth, as the Republicans always predict? Has this ever worked?"

The answer is "no". As Congress tackles "tax reform", we really don't have conclusive historical evidence of the relationship between tax rates and economic growth. To be sure, studies abound, but they are of two distinct types that - at least superficially - contradict each other.