Bruce Bartlett, the man who wrote many Reagan economic policies, says about George Bush:
During the George W. Bush years, however, I think Supply Side Economics 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’.