Tax cuts: $1.6 trillion (or more) - The truth: zero

Do massive tax cuts for the wealthy really pay for themselves? Absolutely not, says the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

Despite recent statements by the President, Vice President, and certain Congressional leaders that tax cuts pay for themselves by stimulating economic growth, revenues over the past three years were a combined $316 billion below the levels that the Administration projected before enactment of the 2003 tax cuts.

[...]

Economists from across the political spectrum, including the Administration's own former chief economist, strongly reject the notion that tax cuts pay for themselves.

In recent statements, the President, the Vice President, and key Congressional leaders have asserted that the increase in revenues in 2005 proves that tax cuts "pay for themselves." In other words, the economy expands so much as a result of tax cuts that it produces the same level of revenue as it would have without the tax cuts.

[...]

In fact, however, the evidence tells a very different story: the tax cuts have not paid for themselves, recent economic growth and revenue growth have not been particularly strong, and revenues remain lower than had been predicted before the tax cuts were enacted.

(For the entire article, see "Claim That Tax Cuts 'Pay for Themselves' Is Too Good to Be True".)