I'm Stunned! Wait, No I'm Not
Everyone's talking about last Thursday's report that a surge in tax receipts had resulted in a projected $54 billion Treasury Department surplus in the current quarter. Now, these projections can be quite inaccurate, though the last few years such budget predictions have been largely pessimistic, rather than optimistic, in their miscalculations, so this is likely quite a bit of good news. Here's a quote:
Jonathan Weisman - May 5th, 2005 The Treasury Department this week reported there would be a $54 billion swing from projected deficit to surplus in the April-to-June quarter, after an unanticipated gush of tax payments poured into the Treasury before the April 15 deadline. That prompted private forecasters to lower their deficit projections for the fiscal year that ends in September.
Naturally, with all the talk of a mounting national debt and massive deficits, this news is (I'm told) very surprising. It shouldn't be, though, to anyone who's been paying attention, or whose last name happens to be Laffer, as I reported back in mid-March. Yes, I'm tooting my own horn, but only because the louder horns have little to toot about in light of this news.
Best of all is that this news is virtually unspinnable. The only response consistent with the anti-tax cut ethos is that it's simply one small step in the right direction. It's more than that, though: it's a real-world example of the fundamental economic truth that lower taxes can still result in higher tax revenues. It's also the latest in a series of vindications for the current administration's tax policies; vindications which are bordering on downright empirical.
» May 9th, 2005
|
|
Calendar
More Entries
Blogroll
Instapundit
Andrew Sullivan
Tom Maguire
Decision '08
Patrick O'Keefe
Categories
Blogging
Democrats
Economy
Elections '04
Elections '06
Elections '08
Entertainment
George W. Bush
Iraq
Media
Miscellaneous
Republicans
Social Security
Supreme Court
Technology
War on Terror
Email Me
|
