Do We Really Want Another Reagan?

Here is my question to all Republicans, conservatives, Tea Partiers, and everyone else who is a fan of limited government: Do you really want another Ronald Reagan? Do you really think Reagan was a godsend for Republicans? Do you think that Reagan was the greatest fiscal conservative to occupy the White House and do you desperately desire another Reaganesque Republican to pursue the Oval Office? Well, think again.

As Governor of California, Reagan:

- Increased the government spending by 122% during his 8-year tenure as governor.
- Raised taxes in 1967 by 33% or $1 billion per year, equivalent to $17 billion per year in today's dollars. His tax proposal was the largest tax hike proposed by a governor in the history of the United States up to that point. It increased, among other things, personal income taxes, corporate and bank taxes, and inheritance (aka "death") taxes.
- Created 73 new government councils and commissions which mired Californian businesses in crippling regulations - such as the California Energy Commission which, among other things, required a three-year review process before any new power plants could be constructed. Could he think of any better way to increase energy costs?
- Proposed to raise taxes again in 1970 by $1.1 billion, but his proposal was defeated by a legislature which apparently was more fiscally conservative than him.
- Grew the state bureaucracy by 20%, from 158,000 to 192,000.
- Increased taxes in 1971 by $508 million - equivalent to $6 billion in today's dollars. This round of tax hikes included a new alternative minimum tax and increases in the personal income tax and the bank and corporate tax.
- Increased welfare payments by 43%, after he booted 510,000 off the dole for no net impact in welfare costs.
- Raised taxes in 1972 by $1.1 billion, or $12.5 billion in today's dollars, which consisted of increases in the sales tax and the bank and corporate tax.
- More than doubled state income taxes from $7.68 per $1000 of personal income to $19.48.
- Fought against initiatives similar to Prop 13 in 1968 and 1972.
- Overall, he tripled state revenues from $2.9 billion to $8.6 billion.

As President, Reagan:

- Increased government debt a whopping 40.9% his first term and 40.2% his second term.
- Cut tax rates in 1981 - but allowed "bracket creep" from inflation and payroll tax increases to more than offset these tax cuts.
- Increased government spending 14.5% his first term and 7.4% his second term.
- Raised taxes in 1982 by close to 1% of GDP, making it the largest peacetime tax increase in American history.
- Increased government spending from 27.9% to 28.7% of GDP - that's more than Ford and Carter combined.
- More than doubled foreign aid.
- Increased federal entitlements, such as Social Security and Medicare, from $197.1 billion in 1981 to $477 billion in 1987.
- Lowered income tax rates overall, especially for the wealthy, but replaced those income tax cuts with various hidden taxes such as the gas tax which hit low-income households disproportionately hard.
- Expanded the power of the IRS.
- Promised to eliminate the Departments of Education and Energy - yet failed to do so. In fact, the Department of Education's budget more than doubled to $22.7 billion.
- Halted the momentum for deregulation which Carter created.
- Increased the economic costs of regulation.
- Increased the size of government bureaucracy by an additional 230,000 workers.
- Restricted trade by doubling the portion of imports under quotas and other trade restraints.
- Used dubious doublespeak such as "revenue enhancements" to hide the fact that he was raising taxes by eliminating tax credits and deductions which many businesses and middle income Americans benefited from.
- Increased marginal tax rates on 40% of Americans with the 1986 Tax Reform Act.
- Supported the FDA and wanted to expand OSHA, among other regulatory agencies.
- Increased the debt-to-GDP from 32.5% to 53.1%.
- Backed off trucking deregulation, which even Ted Kennedy favored.
- Raised taxes a total of 11 times.

Reagan was no fiscal conservative or free market capitalist. As Governor of California, he raised taxes and expanded the size and scope of government in every conceivable manner - and as President of the United States, he might have cut income tax rates, but he did so while eliminating or reducing many important tax credits and deductions, peppering the US economy with hidden taxes, raising payroll taxes, and allowing inflationary "bracket creep" to overtake the benefits of his tax rate cuts. Moreover, government spending, deficits, and the national debt all increased when Reagan was President. Its time for Republicans to turn their back on this Big Government RINO and forge ahead with real dedication to fiscal conservatism and free market capitalism.

All of the information presented here was culled from:
* The Two Faces of Ronald Reagan and The Myths of Reaganomics by Murray Rothbard, an economist who received his PhD from Columbia University, taught at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute from the mid 1960s to the mid 1980s and was S.J. Hall Distinguished Professor of Economics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
* The Sad Legacy of Ronald Reagan by Sheldon Richman, the editor of The Freeman, published by the Foundation for Economic Education.
* Reagan's Forgotten Tax Record by Bruce Bartlett, a former adviser to Ronald Reagan.
* National Debt by US President from Wikipedia.