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The Relationship Between Government Revenue From Taxes And Tax Rates

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The Laffer curve is a concept which explains the relationship between government revenue from taxes and tax rates. The concept of the Laffer curve is that the higher the tax rate is the lower the output, that is to say for example, if the government imposed a higher tax rate, production would be lower and government revenue would therefore be lower. The Laffer curve was developed by an economist by the name of Arthur Laffer, a professor at the University of Chicago. Arthur Laffer does not take all credit for this theory, he claimed it was not new and that the concept was pretty straightforward and people already knew about it many years ago. The origin of the Laffer curve goes back to an article written by Jude Wanniski, associate editor of the Wall street journal at that time. Sometime in December of 1974, Wanniski had dinner with Laffer, Donald Rumsfeld who was the chief of staff to president Gerald Ford, and Rumsfeld’s deputy Dick Cheney, who was a former classmate of Laffer at Yale. All four were having dinner at a restaurant in Washington D.C. while they were talking about President Ford’s “Whip Inflation Now” proposal for tax increments then suddenly Laffer grabbed a napkin and a pen then proceeded to sketch a curve on the napkin about the relationship between tax rates and tax revenues. Jude Wanniski decided to name this relationship “The Laffer Curve”. And that is how The Laffer curve began. Vast majority of companies want to maximize their profit, so it

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