The Laffer Curve ... Really?

This Indianapolis Observer was startled to see a column in the latest Indianapolis Business Journal touting the Laffer Curve as the preferable guiding principle in taxation strategies: "The Laffer Curve teaches that trying to soak the rich through high tax rats can backfire...." Really?

Where have Cecil Bohanon and Bill Styring been since Reaganomics burst onto the scene?

Here's one contrary view: "So the Laffer curve says tax cuts for the rich? This isn't going to be funny": "Laffer was an associate of the Reagan administration, which had a staged cut in the marginal higher rate of personal income tax from 70% to 28%. The effect on the budget deficit was also striking. Reagan doubled it to $155 billion and tripled government debt to more than $2trillion."

"The Laffer curve relies on the twin assumptions that the rich create the output in an economy and that they need incentives to choose idleness over work. But there is little evidence to support these hypotheses."

And, a more recent example: "The Laffer Curve has Flatlined"" "Govs. Brownback [Kansas] and Walker [Wisconsin] killed [the Laffer Curve] simply by implementing the theory and proving its lack of success."

And, another view: "The New Laffer Curve Logic and the Lack of Evidence for it" "After being shown again and again that tax cuts don't increase revenues, those who make the Laffer curve argument stopped making the claim...."

Maybe it's time for the IBJ to hire some reality-based columnists!

(Partial) Trash Slide

The Indianapolis Department of Public Works reports that residential and heavy trash, curbside recycling and leaf collection will operate on a slide schedule this week in observance of Thanksgiving Day.

Residential trash, heavy trash, leaf collection and curbside recycling services will not be available on Thursday, 26 November. Instead, Thursday routes will run Friday, 27 November, and Friday routes will be picked up Saturday, 28 November. All services will return to normal schedules beginning next Monday, 30 November.

Now through 4 December, residents may leave up to 40 bags of leaves (in regular trash bags or paper yard waste bags) for collection on their regular trash day.

Bad Start, Hogsett

This Indianapolis Observer wishes to remind the new mayor that one of the reasons he won is the continuing rage against the myriad questionable decisions of Greg Ballard. Brewer had promised Ballard's "third term", and it didn't fly.

Therefore, agreeing to "continue Ballard's legacy" isn't a viable option.

According to IBJ.com, Hogsett "even praised two of the programs — the Vision Fleet electric car contract and BlueIndy car-sharing service — that Democrats on the Indianapolis City-County Council have spent the last year fighting.

“'From a conceptual standpoint, BlueIndy, Vision Fleet, I think are great ideas,' Hogsett said. 'The biggest criticisms haven’t been necessarily on the merits but rather the way the decisions were made.'"

Ummmm, no. There's more to the controversies than just the backroom dealing -- egregious as that is.

Guess we'll have to wait and see if Indy voted for Ballard 2.0 in the guise of somebody who should know better.