John Redwood wrote a fevered article in the Telegraph today complaining no one has taken his message on the economy seriously, for which he blames the BBC. It was ever thus in the case of a person who has no argument to present.
But there in the middle of the story was a paragraph that stood out:
I have gone hoarse explaining that Ireland cut tax rates on business, and lowered capital taxes, and enjoyed a large surge in revenue from the extra growth it generated. Ireland shows you can have it all - much lower tax rates, and more revenue and public spending per head.
As ever, Redwood is wrong.
Spending per head went up in Ireland because of the receipt of massive EU subsidies. And the spend rate before they flooded in was miserable.
Corporation tax in Ireland also went up, not down. The most successful and largest companies in Ireland in the 1980s and now are foreign owned. They paid 10% in the 1980s and 12.5% now. That's an increase, not a decrease. An increase of 25% in fact. No small amount.
But Redwood wouldn't let that get in the way of his Laffer based madness, would he? Even if the truth is the exact opposite of what he claims.
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[…] Incidentally, it’s curious that comments from the audience were more in my favour than against on the day, but that was not the case in the edit. Unlike John Redwood I won’t be complaining of BBC bias. […]