Bruce Bartlett was one of the creators of Supply Side Economics — the theory that cutting taxes will stimulate the economy and lead to increased revenues. He thinks it worked well enough back in the Reagan era but has outlived its effectiveness. Here's a money quote…
During the George W. Bush years, however, I think SSE became distorted into something that is, frankly, nuts — the ideas that there is no economic problem that cannot be cured with more and bigger tax cuts, that all tax cuts are equally beneficial, and that all tax cuts raise revenue.
These incorrect ideas led to the enactment of many tax cuts that had no meaningful effect on economic performance. Many were just give-aways to favored Republican constituencies, little different, substantively, from government spending. What, after all, is the difference between a direct spending program and a refundable tax credit? Nothing, really, except that Republicans oppose the first because it represents Big Government while they support the latter because it is a "tax cut."
I'm not convinced Bartlett is entirely right about this. I've always felt that Supply Side was never much more than double-talk to justify cutting taxes for the wealthy and shifting their share of the burden to the lower and middle classes. But I think he's correct that if it ever worked, that was long ago…and that the Republican party still thinks it can engage in just as much spending as the Democrats it compares to drunken sailors, and still lower taxes on the rich.