Parse it more closely; they're not arguing that the tax reforms had little effect on the state, they're arguing that they had little effect on the tax burden at

Parse it more closely; they're not arguing that the tax reforms had little effect on the state, they're arguing that they had little effect on the tax burden at the state level. Their only metric for measuring success is whether or not taxes are lower -- which is fine since they're a partisan advocacy group, but real humans live there too and they have to live with all of the impacts that Cato doesn't concern themselves with.