Oh, So You Noticed That Too, Ezra?

Back in January and February of 2011, I wrote a couple posts about the lack of evidence for the right-wing assertion that cutting top marginal tax rates would somehow help our job growth. (See "Tax Rates and GDP Growth" and "Chained to Real: Tax Rates, Inflation-adjusted GDP Measures, and the Difference")

I know it's a bit trivial to revel in my little soap-box covering something before one of the Big Names, but c'est la vie. Where's the fun in never letting loose with frivolity? I just noticed that in June of 2011, Ezra Klein covered the ground that I'd staked out earlier in that year with his post "Tax rates and job creation in one graph". I don't begrudge him that ground at all, of course. I have to admit the graph he posted shows a more compelling visual representation than mine did of why we shouldn't listen to that old excuse for cutting the top rates. Mine merely showed that the right-wing has no grounds for the claim, whereas the one Mr. Klein posted goes further and makes a somewhat persuasive argument in the other direction from the right-wing claims.

Mr. Klein got the chart he'd posted by way of the folks over at American Progress. As they point out about Speaker Boehner, candidate Romney, and their ilk regarding jobs and taxes,

"In fact, they are just as wrong about this as they are about the relationship between marginal tax rates and overall economic growth. In the past 60 years, job growth has actually been greater in years when the top income tax rate was much higher than it is now."

In this case, I'll follow in Mr. Klein's footsteps and post American Progress's chart as a follow up to my own.

from http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/06/marginal_tax_employment_charticle.html 

They also have an article that -- like mine from earlier in that year -- focuses on GDP growth rather than job growth. And as they say there about top marginal tax rates and GDP growth,

"These numbers do not mean that higher rates necessarily lead to higher growth. But the central tenet of modern conservative economics is that a lower top marginal tax rate will result in more growth, and these numbers do show conclusively that history has not been kind to that theory."

It's good to see others using their larger platforms for refuting those conservative claims with the facts.