tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post6078951796922939568..comments2024-03-06T06:34:42.881-05:00Comments on EconoSpeak: Kevin Hassett and Irwin Steltzer Join in on the Fiscal DishonestyUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-2507059517723507692018-10-21T11:39:13.346-04:002018-10-21T11:39:13.346-04:00It's even worse than that. Nominal corporate ...It's even worse than that. Nominal corporate tax receipts actually fell from $297B in FY2017 to $205B in FY2018. But wait...it gets even worse. While it's true that (nominal) income tax receipts increased from $1,587B in FY2017 to $1,684B in FY2018, you have to ask how this is possible if FICA tax receipts only increased (nominally) from $1,162B in FY2017 to $1,171B in FY2018. So we get a $97B increase in income tax receipts following an income tax cut, but only a $9B increase in FICA tax receipts. How is this possible? The obvious answer is that most of the increased income came from those who earn incomes well above the FICA threshold. If the typical worker earned more wage income, then you would expect FICA taxes to increase proportionally. But nominal FICA receipts were virtually flat, and real FICA receipts actually fell! Conclusion: the increase in tax receipts came from those who either earned salaries above the FICA threshold or from those who enjoyed unearned income. It's the typical Republican shell game. And I'm sure there are plenty of dimwitted voters out there who won't see through this. Voters are nitwits. Always have been and always will be.2slugbaitshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14763897441056512506noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-9353298940131810922018-10-21T08:01:52.204-04:002018-10-21T08:01:52.204-04:00“Hassett and others in the administration point ou...“Hassett and others in the administration point out that despite a hefty reduction in the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, government revenues rose by $3.3 trillion in the fiscal year just ended.”<br /><br />Barkley – good catch. The ‘by’ should read ‘to’ as the Treasury report reads:<br /><br />“Government receipts totaled $3,329 billion in FY 2018. This was $14 billion higher than in FY 2017, an increase of 0.4 percent.”<br /><br />Of course the price level rose by over 2.5% so this nominal increase represents a real decrease near 2%. <br />ProGrowthLiberalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17138489390594441753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-75928439981496479292018-10-21T07:48:23.318-04:002018-10-21T07:48:23.318-04:00Brad's 2.7% figure is the percentage change in...Brad's 2.7% figure is the percentage change in real GDP from 2017QII to 2018QII. It just so happens that the GDP deflator rose by 2.7% over this period. Since Team Trump thinks it is appropriate to state things in terms of nominal increases, I'm expecting one of these clowns to tell us that GDP rose by almost 5.5%.ProGrowthLiberalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17138489390594441753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-68919260835223073932018-10-20T22:34:48.389-04:002018-10-20T22:34:48.389-04:00pgl,
Offhand it looks like Steltzer has a bigger ...pgl,<br /><br />Offhand it looks like Steltzer has a bigger problem of error. Your quote from him has tax revenuse increasing (nominally) by $3.3 trillion. But I think that is what the total is, not what it increased by. After all, GDP is only a bit over $20 trillion. rosserjb@jmu.eduhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09300046915843554101noreply@blogger.com