I will certainly agree with you on the fact one needs to hold their nose while entering the voting booth. One fact, that you need to consider is that higher tax rates can slow down the growth of GDP. Obviously, we all like the economy to grow. The relationship between tax rates and GDP growth is very complicated. (It is not easy to estimate and it also depends on marginal rates.) (like everything else there are about 10 factors you need to consider before you get to one simple answer.) The thing is there is a long term effect and a short term effect. People are impatient and don't wait for the long term effect. I once did some modeling in a spreadsheet with what I felt were the best guesses based on a good set of data. The problem the politician had with supply side economics is it took 8 years to see the positive effect, and he was up for election in 4 years. Like saving for retirement, compounding takes time. The effect changes with the tax rates. (The reason it does not work as good now is that tax rates are lower than they were back in the 1980's) (1980 70-90% marginal tax rates; now 30-40%). Certainly, trying to sell long term growth in a short term instant gratification world is a harder sell.
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