I wholeheartedly reject the notion that tax cuts shouldn't be made across the board. Liberals have turned "trickle-down economics" into something you're not allowed to say, even though it works. Even on an anecdotal level, this is obviously true. As an example, if your taxes were cut enough or if you got enough of a raise, you might have enough money to pay someone else to cut your grass so you could spend your weekends with your kids rather than with your yard. That kind of thing fuels job creation.

But this is a hard thing to prove in an anecdotal fashion. But there is some data to back this up. This column is one I've been hoping to see.

Since 1983, living standards for the lowest fifth has increased 25%.

The column also lists several reasons why income gains are commonly underreported. One reason is that more poor people are filing tax forms today than 25 years ago, due to increases in the Earned Income Tax Credit program. In 1983, 19% of filers had no tax to pay. In 2005, that number was 33% - and it is expected to be 40% in 2008. When you offer people free money, they'll fill out a tax form. The side effect is that the IRS has more data on low income households - not because there are more of them, but because they end up getting paid to fill out a tax form.

The other issue is one of mobility. People move in income ranges over time - and usually people move up. Only one-third of filters who paid zero tax in 1987 were still in the zero tax income bracket in 1996.

When you hear liberal politicians talk about the "poor getting poorer," question how they measure this. Because there are many measurements that show the poor are doing much better now than they were 25 years ago.

Labels: politics