Political Quotes

“on a late spring day 27 years ago, President Ronald Reagan addressed a group of high school students in Atlanta, GA. Many of the students in that audience that day were about to join the workforce, and President Reagan spoke about the ``strange''--to use his word--tax system that would soon claim a portion of their paychecks. In his speech President Reagan pledged: We're going to close the unproductive tax loopholes that have allowed some of the truly wealthy to avoid paying their fair share. He went on to note that under the country's complex tax rules, it was ``possible for millionaires to pay nothing, while a bus driver [pays] 10 percent of his salary.'' President Reagan called this inequity with millionaires paying lower rates than bus drivers--to use his word-- ``crazy.'' He said, ``It's time we stopped it.'' One year later, President Reagan signed into law bipartisan tax reform that closed many of the loopholes and ensured that the highest earning Americans paid a fair share. The 1986 tax reform deal set the tax rate on investment income--overwhelmingly earned by those at the very top of the income ladder--at the same rate as regular wage income. Unfortunately, in the years that followed, lobbyists have been all over Congress, and Congress has restored many of the loopholes President Reagan cut. It has repeatedly reduced tax rates on investment income.…”