22ND JULY 2024 : 7PM : ONLINE WITH DR. ARTHUR B. LAFFER
THIS EVENT HAS ENDED. WATCH RECORDING HERE
There is a lot of heated discussion about tax at the moment but very little light.
PopCon Director, Mark Littlewood was joined by his good friend - the incredible Dr. Arthur B. Laffer - for what proved to be a hugely entertaining and illuminating conversation on all things tax-related.
If you have ever heard a politician, economist or expert refer to the "Laffer curve" - this the man after whom it was named.
[The Laffer curve: In 1974 Arthur Laffer, an economist, sketched a simple diagram on the back of a napkin to illustrate a truism of tax policy. Set income-tax rates to zero and governments will not collect any revenue. Set them to 100%, and they will also collect nothing because people will have little incentive to work. Somewhere in between lies a sweet spot where government revenues are maximised. From this simple proof, it follows that when tax rates are very high, it might be possible both to lower tax rates and raise revenues. Tax cuts might thus pay for themselves, and more. Mr Laffer’s scribbling caught on. Some 45 years later some 15,000 journal articles mention the “Laffer curve” in their title. Read more here [£££]]
Dr. Laffer's economic acumen and influence in triggering a world-wide tax-cutting movement in the 1980s have earned him the distinction in many publications as "The Father of Supply-Side Economics." And a very strong case can be made that he has been the most influential economist in the world in recent decades.
This is a man who influenced the economic thinking of great leaders including Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher and more recently was awarded the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom for his tax cutting crusades over the decades by President Trump.