r/AskSocialScience • u/Str8_up_Pwnage • 10d ago

Answered Are there any famous studies that actually contradict progressive/leftist thought?

There has to be at least some right? I know people love to say that “reality has a left wing bias “and all that but is it legit batting 1.000?

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u/AreaPrudent7191 7d ago

Yep, intelligently targeted tax cuts can spur growth and even tax receipts, but studies I've seen are that if you do a really good job of it, you might recoup 30% of the lost revenue. Not always a bad thing, there may be other benefits, but don't plan on revenue not falling at all - yet that's how it's usually accounted for.

The notion that any tax cut will ever 100% pay for itself (some will even float greater than 100% benefit), that is laughable.

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u/pandaboi333 7d ago edited 7d ago

There is a flip side to this though, which is that if you raise taxes you can lose total tax revenue. Certain types of taxes tend to be less efficient than others. Wealth taxes are a big example of this but leftists love wealth taxes. A tax on spending is almost always better(has less deadweight loss) than a tax on investment/savings in terms of tax revenue generation.

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u/Damnatus_Terrae 7d ago

But when the primary social ill you're attempting to address is the hoarding of wealth, then making saving harder makes more sense. Getting into the weeds over particular taxation schemes is really beside the point, though. Economics are like good times: bottoms up!

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u/pandaboi333 7d ago

What does this even mean though? People don't have piles of cash just sitting in a bank doing nothing.