Lower the taxes and increase the revenue? - The Laffer curve

Deriving the name from the author Arthur Laffer, the Laffers curve has been pretty controversial. The curve pretty much looks like the sketch below.

Its pretty much self explanatory. The implication being the relationship between the tax revenue and the tax rate is not linear. Its low or none when the tax rate is 0 (for obvious reasons) and the returns tend to taper off as the tax rate increases. For example if the government takes away almost everything, there is not much motivation to work. To its credit, there is data to prove that the very richest people who were paying taxes to the tune of 70% in the pre- Raegan era ended up contributing mote tax revenue post the Reagan tax cuts.

Reference: How not to be wrong by Jordan Ellenberg