Consider the source of Laffer plan criticism

In their critique of Laffer, Good Jobs First declares that efforts to significantly lower tax rates provide “a recipe for economic inequality, wage suppression, and stagnant incomes, and for depriving state and local governments of the revenue needed to maintain the public infrastructure and education systems that are the true foundations of long term economic growth and shared prosperity.”

In Oklahoma, our top income tax rate of 5.25 percent kicks in at $8,700 (or $15,000 for married couples). How does slashing taxes and increasing take-home pay for people qualifying for welfare amount to “wage suppression”? Good Jobs First's true concern is likely the second half of that sentence — that government would have less money.

Good Jobs First's policy prescriptions would boost union and government power at the cost of individual freedom and citizens' economic mobility. Proposals based on Laffer's theories may not be perfect — we support a lower tax rate but question the wisdom of full state income tax repeal — but his ideas would empower citizens far more than those promoted by Good Jobs First.