Robert Emmett Murphy, Jr.

  Robert Emmett Murphy Jr A͏ u͏ g͏ u͏ s͏ t͏ ͏ 2͏ ,͏ ͏ 2͏ 0͏ 1͏ 3͏   · Shared with Public In the past seven days I've caught two conservatives misusing the term "Laffer Curve." They seem to think it's an economic model that demonstrates the virtue of lower tax rates on higher earners and/or a flat tax. This is what a Laffer Curve really is: The Laffer curve argues that there is an optimum level of taxation, too low and the Government lacks the revenues to fulfill it’s functions, too high and oppressive taxation inhibits economic activity because private business lacks revenue to operate and/or expand, which means that there’s less revenue to tax, which means the Government actually collects less by taxing too much. Both Liberals and Conservatives operate under Laffer Curve assumptions, they just move the optimum point back and forth along the Y axis, because Laffer never quantified what the optimum point was. Laffer curve arguments applied to real world policies alwa...