Bartlett: Tax Cuts Don't Pay For Themselves

Former Reagan budget official Bruce Bartlett challenges Republican dogma on Capital Gains and Games.

In short, there is no evidence whatsoever supporting Gov. Pawlenty’s view of the Reagan tax cuts or Sen. McConnell’s view of the Bush tax cuts. They didn’t pay for themselves and there is no reason to think that further tax cuts will, either. Esteemed Republican economist Alan Greenspan confirmed this fact last year on “Meet the Press.” Asked whether he thought that tax cuts pay for themselves, as Republican leaders had said, Greenspan replied, simply, “They do not.”

--Ballard Burgher