The true purpose of the Kennedy tax comment

Regarding a July 11 letter by Paul Rudolph: He quoted President John Kennedy as saying “In short it is a paradoxical truth that … the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the rates now.”

While it is true that Kennedy said that and presented a tax rate decrease from 90 percent to 70 percent (legislation presented by Kennedy and enacted under Lyndon Johnson), one thing conservatives never inform you of is that it was actually a tax increase Kennedy was referring to, not a decrease.

What Kennedy did was to lower the rate to

70 percent, but if you actually dig into that legislation, you'll see it raised taxes by cutting loopholes. Kennedy wanted more openness in the tax code to raise more revenues. I've actually heard the audio recording where Kennedy stated his plan was to effectively raise the tax rate by cutting loopholes.

Ever since President Ronald Reagan, we've heard the Laffer curve quoted time and time again. That curve has never been shown to be accurate. Historically, when tax rates have been raised revenue has also increased.

Right now we're at some of the lowest tax rates since right before the Great Depression and yet somehow we also have the highest national debt in history. History is showing us the Laffer curve is a sham.

Donald Brady

Cedar Rapids