To: letters@nytimes.com
Subject: No research necessary to disprove tax report
Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2012
Dear Sirs: The question of whether higher taxes will or will not affect economic growth is not one to be answered by reference to an examination of historical experience but rather solely to the principles of deductive rational thought. Economic science is a deductive social science based upon irrefutable maxims; it is not an inductive natural science. No evidence can disprove the deduction that an economy will grow faster when taxes are lower. Economic growth is based upon an extention of the division of labor that occurs only when the number of people in an economic area expands and/or more capital is applied per capita to the production process. Capital accumulation occurs only from savings. Since taxes reduce the amount of savings, capital accumulation will be retarded and economic growth reduced below the level that would have been the case otherwise. Patrick Barron
