Follow Reagan's example

[Guns Guns Guns]

(AFP/File, Mike Sargent)







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Barack Obama urged Republicans to draw inspiration from the hero of fiscal conservatives, Ronald Reagan, who agreed to revenue increases to cut the US deficit.




"Ronald Reagan repeatedly took steps that included revenue, in order for him to accomplish some of these larger goals" Obama said.




Amid a burgeoning deficit, Reagan agreed to several measures designed to raise revenue for government coffers such as closing loopholes and cutting tax breaks.












http://www.google.com/hostednews/af...ocId=CNG.c8ba8f0624a66c8deceb6923cf3cb470.251

 

[Rune]

The fantasy Reagan is apparently better than the real Raygun.

 

[Guns Guns Guns]

Reagan raised taxes.....conveniently forgotten by today's Teabaggers as they worship their lil' tin god.


Those who oppose higher taxes and are fed up with record levels of U.S. debt may pine for Ronald Reagan, the patron saint of lower taxes and smaller government.
But it's worth considering just what Reagan did -- and didn't do...


Soon after taking office in 1981, Reagan signed into law one of the largest tax cuts in the postwar period.



In 1986, Reagan lowered individual income tax rates again.



Despite the aggressive tax cutting, Reagan couldn't ignore the budget deficit, which was burgeoning.




So, despite his public opposition to higher taxes, Reagan ended up signing off on several measures intended to raise more revenue.


The bills didn't raise more revenue by hiking individual income tax rates, though.


Instead, they did it largely through making it tougher to evade taxes, and through "base broadening" -- that is, reducing various federal tax breaks and closing tax loopholes.









Two bills passed in 1982 and 1984 together constituted the biggest tax increase ever enacted during peacetime.



In 1983, he signed off on Social Security reform legislation that, among other things, accelerated an increase in the payroll tax rate, required that higher-income beneficiaries pay income tax on part of their benefits, and required the self-employed to pay the full payroll tax rate, rather than just the portion normally paid by employees.

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http://money.cnn.com/2010/09/08/news/economy/reagan_years_taxes/index.htm​

 

[Liberty]

Reagan really got our big huge big government police state going with the drug war.

He really loved a big government police state.

 

[Guns Guns Guns]

Reagan's behavior might not pass muster with those voters today who insist their Congressmen treat every proposed tax increase as poisonous to the republic.


"By today's standards, the Gipper would easily qualify for status as a back-stabbing, treacherous RINO [Republican in Name Only]," wrote Tax Analysts contributing editor Martin Sullivan, in an article for Tax Notes in May.


Thanks in part to the increases in defense spending during his administration, Reagan also didn't really reduce the size of government.


Annual spending averaged 22.4% of GDP on his watch, which is above today's 40-year average of 20.7%, and above the 20.8% average under Carter.


Indeed, in one very symbolic respect he enlarged it. While in the early years of his presidency Reagan tried to shrink the IRS, by the end, the number of IRS employees hit an all-time high.

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http://money.cnn.com/2010/09/08/news/economy/reagan_years_taxes/index.htm