Unlike last week’s article by Michael Cooper, today’s New York Times report by David Leonhardt (an economics reporter) questions John McCain’s pattern of claiming that tax cuts increase revenue:

On several occasions over the last year, Mr. McCain has said that tax cuts can reduce the deficit by spurring additional activity that, in turn, leads to more taxes being paid. But numerous studies have found that not to be the case.

In the interview, Mr. McCain said, referring to tax cuts, “Whether they actually pay for themselves dollar for dollar, obviously there are differences in opinion.”

“[D]ifferences in opinion” between … Arthur Laffer and virtually every economist. Close enough!

(PS The article is pretty credulous about McCain’s claims that he will be able to cut spending significantly. Doing so with a Democratic Congress is likely to be difficult to impossible.)