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Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul claimed that 20 million jobs were created after President Ronald Reagans dramatic tax cuts in the 1980s, and that this was the last time such job growth took place. Paul is wrong on both counts.

The fact is that the economy added just over 16.1 million jobs under the tax-cutting Reagan, but it added nearly 22.9 million under Democratic President Bill Clinton, whoraisedtaxes.

Supply-side Myth

Paulsmisinformed recitation of economic historycame during an April 12 Freedom Summit gathering of 2016 Republican presidential prospects in Manchester, N.H. It was a straightforward expression of the supply-side myth that tax cuts produce more revenue rather than less:

Paul, April 12:When is the last time in our country we created millions of jobs? It was under Ronald Reagan. What did Ronald Reagan do? Did he come forward and say: Oh, lets just cut taxes for low-income people? No, he said forthrightly lets cut everyones taxes. He did dramatically. The top rate thats what rich people pay was 70 percent, he lowered it to 50 percent. Then he lowered it again to 28 percent, and 20 million jobs were created. More revenue came in in fact. When you cut rates people work harder, they make more money, more revenue comes in.

Paul was right about the size of Reagansdramatic cuts in the federal income tax rate. When Reagan took office in 1981, the top rate was 70 percent of income exceeding $108,300 for singles and $215,400 for couples filing jointly, and during his final year in office, the top rate was just 28 percent on income exceeding $17,850 for singles and $29,750 for couples filing together.

And its also true that those tax cuts were accompanied by years of prosperity. The 16.1 million jobs added during his eight years in office came despitea 16-month recessionthat began early in his first term, before the tax cuts enacted in 1981 began to take effect. But even ignoring the jobs lost during the early part of his time in office, the economy gained only 18.4 million jobs from the low point in December 1982 to the end of his presidency. Thats an enviable number, but its still well short of Pauls 20 million claim.

Andits not the last time such gains were made, either. Clinton took office in 1993 during a weak recovery from aneight-month recessionthat plagued the middle of Republican George H.W. Bushs term.

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Rand Paul's supply-side distortions