Economist Paul Krugman, who writes a column for the New York Times, is wrong about Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression pretty much every time he opens his mouth, and economist Bob Murphy has had to correct him repeatedly (particularly Krugman’s claim that Hoover slashed government spending, in conformity with the president’s alleged commitment to “austerity”; Bob smashed that one here and here).

This time Krugman, in an aside, criticizes Republicans for believing “that going back to Herbert-Hoover-level taxes at the top makes everyone richer.”

Here are a few quick reasons this statement is — let’s face it — stupid and evil.

(1) In 1929 Hoover lowered taxes by an amount so trivial as to be scarcely noticeable. He spent the rest of his term raising taxes — tariffs, excises, corporate taxes, estate taxes, income taxes, you name it.

(2) Hoover raised the top income tax rate — which is what Krugman himself wants to do — from 25 percent to 63 percent.

(3) The reason the top income tax rate was “only” 25 percent was that Hoover’s predecessors, Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, brought it down to that level during the 1920s. In no way was this “Hoover’s” tax rate. It was the rate he inherited from Harding and Coolidge, and then proceeded to raise to 63 percent.

(4) Knowing that Hoover’s name has been toxic ever since the Depression, Krugman proceeds to mislead the public, deliberately, by associating the tax policies of Hoover with the policies of Krugman’s present-day opponents. I say “deliberately” only because the alternative is that Krugman is simply ignorant of basic history, and I find that hard to believe.

Bob Murphy lets Krugman have it on this.