Despite the eloquence of our taxer-in-chief, the facts, as noted by Professor Antony Davies in this clip, are that whether you raise or lower taxes at the highest-marginal or average tax rate, the share of the GDP pie that government gets to take out of our pockets remains stubbornly flat at around 17-18%. It seems growing the pie may be a more attractive approach than raising taxes but then how would that play in an election year with below trend growth and stagnant income.