Jon Talton's latest column in the Seattle Times—"Tax cuts: The god that failed"—is a must read. And no, I don't mean that sarcastically.

Once upon a time, I believed the best way to "stick it to the rich" was to maintain relatively low marginal tax rates. This would encourage them to put capital to productive, job-creating uses rather that keeping it in tax shelters. It worked in the Kennedy tax cuts of the 1960s and it could be argued that it worked, to a degree, for Ronald Reagan. Part of George W. Bush's initial argument for cutting taxes was also defensible: With surpluses forecast in the future after 2000, taxpayers should see some relief.

But as an economic proposition encouraging growth and, especially, the creation and retention of middle-class jobs and rising middle-class incomes, tax cuts have failed. The dogma that taxes must always go down, and 30 years of tax cuts in states, have proven especially toxic.

Frank Blethen should try reading his own business columnist. He might learn something.