either that, or he just does not know what he is talking about.
He's quoted in the Topeka Capital Journal saying
"Both liberal and conservative economists agree raising taxes in a recession is exactly the wrong policy," said Sen. Jeff Colyer, R-Overland Park."
http://cjonline.com/news/legislature/2010-01-12/alternatives_to_taxes_offered?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+KansasDemsNews+%28Kansas+Dems+News%29&utm_content=FaceBookIf he, like me, was getting email updates from the CBPP (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities) then he would know better. Here is what they wrote LAST YEAR.
"Some state-level policymakers contend that the weakness of the economy means that a state should rely solely on cutting spending, rather than raising taxes. But this one-dimensional approach is not based on sound economics.
Two highly regarded economists — Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University, and Peter Orszag, now the director of the Congressional Budget Office — wrote during the last recession that spending cuts could actually be more harmful for a state’s economy during a recession than tax increases. This assertion still holds true; Stiglitz recently reiterated the point in a letter (co-signed by 120 other economists) to New York’s governor David Paterson."
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=1032So there's one Nobel Prize winner and one former director of the CBO and some 120 other economists who disagree with Colyer.
To re-iterate
“The conclusion is that, if anything, tax increases on higher-income families are the least damaging mechanism for closing state fiscal deficits in the short run. Reductions in government spending on goods and services, or reductions in transfer payments to lower-income families, are likely to be more damaging to the economy in the short run than tax increases focused on higher-income families"