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Fun with figures Mr. Reagan, Playing with NumbersBy Rick Horowitz
Any man who could look good in a brown suit surely had powers of persuasion far beyond those of ordinary mortals. Give Ronald Reagan credit for that -- and for plenty of other things. He brought a bit of swagger back to the Oval Office after years when the place was awash with demons, drift and doubt. He convinced millions of Americans -- when millions of Americans needed convincing -- that the country's brightest days were still ahead. He convinced the leaders of the Soviet Union that for them, the Cold War was a losing hand, growing weaker by the day. Credit where credit is due; that's what I say. So credit for this one, too: Ronald Reagan made it impossible to talk about taxes. To talk sensibly about taxes, that is. The man with the great persuasive powers convinced himself, and then far too many of his countrymen, that 2+2 really could equal 7. That you really could have huge tax cuts, and huge increases in military spending, and all the government services you and your friends wanted (though not necessarily all the services those folks across the tracks wanted, or needed), and still produce a balanced budget. Ronald Reagan, almost single-handedly, made taxes "bad." It didn't matter what kind of taxes they were, or what the money they raised would be used for -- if they were taxes, they were evil. End of discussion. End of common sense. Ronald Reagan turned terrible math into powerful politics. And if his most enduring legacy on the world stage is the peaceful conclusion of the Cold War, on the home front it's something far less wonderful: the lasting triumph of phony numbers. He offered his too-good-to-be-true deal when he ran to unseat Jimmy Carter in 1980, and he won, and other politicians noticed. Then in 1984, he trounced Walter Mondale, who had had the temerity to admit that spiraling deficits would force the winning candidate, whoever it turned out to be, to raise taxes. Whoever, of course, turned out to be Ronald Reagan, by a landslide. And the politicians noticed again, and drew from the experience one bright-line lesson: Raising taxes is political suicide. Even talking about raising taxes is political suicide. The only way to succeed with the voters is to be loudly, clearly, unalterably against taxes. Does that mean taxes never went up during the Reagan years? Of course they did. They had to. But these higher taxes weren't "higher taxes"; they were "revenue enhancers." They were "user fees." Besides, Ronald Reagan's reputation as an anti-tax man was so well established that even when he did sign off on tax increases, the public shrugged and said, "Well, at least he didn't want to." Unlike, presumably, the Democrats, who imposed taxes for the sheer perverse joy of sticking it to the voters. I said he was persuasive, didn't I? Ronald Reagan's successor wasn't quite as successful; for one thing, the younger man's anti-tax reputation was less firmly established. George H.W. Bush thought he had mastered the playbook. "Read my lips," he thundered. "No new taxes!" It helped get him elected, but when he bumped up against fiscal reality and changed his tune, the true believers deserted him; he was denied a second term. And the politicians noticed that, too. (As did future politicians -- the defeated incumbent's near-namesake among them.) All of which -- the wins, the losses, the lessons learned -- has meant decades of budgetary deceit and denial and doubletalk. Candidates contorting themselves to keep from even hinting that the people's government might need adequate funding to do its many jobs. So-called leaders who'd rather "take the pledge" than speak the truth. That's Ronald Reagan's legacy, too. I see where some of Mr. Reagan's biggest fans are talking about putting his likeness on our currency. On the ten-dollar bill, some are suggesting. On the twenty, say others. As recognition of his impact around the globe, you can make a case for either choice. But when it comes to his years of smoke and mirrors about taxes, the three-dollar bill is a much better fit. Posted 6/11/04. Get
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Rick Horowitz
