2. Bartlett is probably correct that we have reached the point of diminishing returns when it comes to nominal-rate-cut-driven growth increases. That is why we should focus on
reducing complexity:
Americans spend an estimated between $67 billion and $378 billion annually in accounting costs related to filing taxes. Americans spent more than 6 billion hours (2011) complying with the tax code. This represents an annual workforce of 3.4 million—a population that could be the third largest city in the United States, surpassing Chicago (2,707,120), Houston (2,145,146), and Philadelphia (1,536,471), and larger than the population of 21 states. A workforce equivalent to that employed by the four largest US companies—Walmart, IBM, McDonald’s and Target—combined.
The impact of taxes on the economy extends beyond the revenue taken by the government. The compliance burden results in estimates of foregone economic growth from $148 billion to $609 billion annually.
As that is probably where the greatest bang-for-our-buck is. You could strip out complexity while lowering nominal rates -
but keeping real rates approximately the same - and give a good sized boost to the economy, as those losses would then go to fund more productive things.