Pelosi, Krugman wrong in attacking Trump tax cuts: Famed economist
Renowned economist Thomas Sowell dismissed Democrats who have continued to knock the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman.
“If I look back at the prior statements of Paul Krugman and Nancy Pelosi, I do not have an awful lot of confidence or give a lot of weight to what they say,” Sowell told FOX Business’ Neil Cavuto during an interview on Friday. “They’ve been wrong big time before.”
Sowell, who has degrees from Harvard, Columbia and the University of Chicago, where he earned a Ph.D. in economics, is the author of more than 30 books and is a National Humanities Medal recipient. He has taught at Cornell University, the University of California, Los Angeles, and Stanford University's Hoover Institution. Besides his scholarly achievements, Sowell gained prominence as one of the early African-American intellectuals to embrace and defend capitalism.
On Wednesday, Krugman, a Nobel Economics Prize laureate told CNN the Republican tax plan turned out to be a “nothing burger” that had done nothing to energize the economy. And earlier this year, Pelosi shrugged off the tax overhaul -- the largest since President Reagan was in office -- as nothing more than “crumbs.”
“Krugman takes this position,” Sowell said. “He takes a lot of positions that are indefensible. So I’m not the least bit surprised that he’s taking another one.”
The $1.5 trillion cuts, signed into law by President Trump in late December, slashed the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35% and temporarily lowered individual tax rates until 2025. In the wake of implementation of the tax overhaul, more than 430 companies have announced pay raises, bonuses or 401(k) hikes, benefiting more than 4 million Americans, according to the White House.
Under the first round, the Council of Economic Advisers estimates that annual income for American households will increase by $4,000 on average. Workers began to see a bump in their paychecks in March.