Breitbart Business Digest: Arthur Laffer’s Supply-Side Economics at 50

The Laffer Curve at Fifty

At the U.S. Capitol on May 13, guests at a festive dinner celebrated an anniversary that’s not on any official calendar, but it should be.

Back on September 13, 1974, a young economist, Arthur Laffer, was trying to illustrate a point about the optimum tax rate—the rate that optimized both tax revenue and economic growth. Converting his rapid stream of words into a single picture, Laffer drew a convex shape on the only thing handy: a restaurant napkin.

Economist Arthur Laffer stands before a chalkboard drawing of his famous Laffer curve, circa 1981. (AP Photo)

There are two tax rates, Laffer argued, at which the government gets zero revenues: zero percent and 100 percent. At a 100 percent

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