JFK tax cut - read this for some perspective
http://www.msjc.edu/econ/jfk022502.htm
When JFK cut taxes (1) top marginal rate was 91% (wow), (2) the federal deficit was very small (0.6% of rev), and (3) JFK's advisers thought their stimulus would result in a balanced budget.
Today, the top marginal rate is 1/2 as high, the federal deficit is 3X higher relative to GDP (1.5% of GDP), and no-one pretends tax cuts will balance the budget.
The argument for a tax cut looks different now than 45 years ago.
Interestingly, the tax cut was JFK's third choice for economic stimulus:
6. Cutting taxes was not Kennedy's first choice for getting rid of those troublesome surpluses. He had plans for many expenditure increases - for defense, education, urban renewal, regional economic development, worker training and medical care for the aged. Congress did not approve any of that, except for an increase in defense spending after the Soviets put up the Berlin Wall.
7. The Kennedy administration would have liked to "get the economy moving again" by easing monetary policy. But the administration did not control monetary policy, which in any case was inhibited by the balance-of-payments deficit combined with the commitment to support the dollar exchange rate.
8. In the summer of 1962, the stock market fell sharply. That was commonly attributed to anxieties in the financial and business communities caused by the administration's heavy-handed pressure on the steel companies to roll back a price increase. The administration feared that the economy was entering another recession, which would be its recession. It felt the need to stimulate the economy but was blocked by Congress on the expenditure-increasing front. Moreover, if felt the need to restore confidence in the business community. So it came to the proposal of a big tax cut.