MacEachern, Goldwater Institute and Bad Research

In endorsing Matt Ladner’s premise that states with lower tax rates means they will have lower poverty rates, Doug MacEachern encourages the public to believe something is fact when it is not. It’s not even close.

I have a copy of Ladner’s paper “How to Win the War on Poverty.” He cites low-tax states like Mississippi (19% poverty) and Arkansas (15.1% poverty) as states with low tax rates we should emulate. If low tax rates have a direct relationship on reducing poverty, then how come they have higher poverty rates than Arizona (14.4% poverty)?

Does Ladner cite any peer-reviewed research to support his claims? Nope. Did he interpret the data to show there is a statistically significant relationship between low tax rates and reductions in poverty? No, again. In fact, he states in the footnotes “A lack of comparable and detailed state budget data precludes an examination of antipoverty spending by state.” So can he legitimately support his conclusions? No, he can’t.

Ladner and the Goldwater Institute are preaching to the choir with false claims and bad research. How that helps Arizona is a mystery, but I’m sure they appreciate MacEachern’s help. The rest of us, however, do not.