DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN

DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN

Tax increase spooks on the prowl - The Washington Times

How do the elites break down presidential resistance to tax increases? They do so by promising the moon. Tax increases, they say, will lead to huge reductions in interest rates, which will power economic growth and reduce unemployment. The rich only pay them anyway, which makes the president look like a populist. And tax increases are the price that must be paid to get spending cuts.

This last point is especially laughable. In 1982, Ronald Reagan proudly announced he was getting $3 of spending cuts for every $1 of tax increase. He later lamented that all he ever got were the taxes. 'Congress never cut spending by even one penny, ' Mr. Reagan complained in 1993.

Earlier this year, Mr. Reagan's chief of staff, James A. Baker III, wrote a sort of mea culpa in the Wall Street Journal, saying he had underestimated the positive economic effects of tax rate reductions. But he didn't repudiate his efforts to get Mr. Reagan to raise taxes. It will be interesting to see how Mr. Bush reacts when his staff tells him taxes need to be raised.