Donald Trump's tax cuts for the rich won't make America great again | Joseph Stiglitz

The president thinks lower taxes and deregulation will solve the US's problems. They won't work, because they never have

Although America's rightwing plutocrats may disagree about how to rank the country's major problems - for example, inequality, slow growth, low productivity, opioid addiction, poor schools, and deteriorating infrastructure - the solution is always the same: lower taxes and deregulation, to "incentivise" investors and "free up" the economy. Donald Trump is counting on this package to make America great again.

It won't, because it never has. When Ronald Reagan tried it in the 1980s, he claimed that tax revenues would rise. Instead, growth slowed, tax revenues fell, and workers suffered. The big winners in relative terms were corporations and the rich, who benefited from dramatically reduced tax rates.

Related: How about a little accountability for economists when they mess up? | Dean Baker