Orrin Hatch: “Let me just say this in response. The fact of the matter is, I do not think anybody escapes responsibility. But I know…”

“Let me just say this in response. The fact of the matter is, I do not think anybody escapes responsibility. But I know one thing, the Reagan tax cuts resulted in an increase of revenues because there was more opportunity, more investment, more creation of jobs, more people paying taxes. And we actually had more tax revenues come in by 40 percent over what was estimated. Where Reagan got into trouble--and I was here--was in the 1981 or 1982 tax bill. In order to get the marginal tax rate reductions that all of us knew would work--and they did, and this administration is benefiting from that to this day because the tax rates were 70 percent at that time. I have to admit they are outrageously high today, but they are not 70 percent. But, in order to get that, they had to agree, the President had to agree to all kinds of congressional spending programs. He wanted the marginal tax rate so bad because he knew that would create a good economy. And it did for 8 solid years, some say longer. And it is really one of the things that is benefiting this economy today, because the tax rates are so much lower than they were before Reagan took office. But then, in the 1986 tax bill, which I voted against, he wanted marginal rates reduced again, and to get that he had to give all kinds of concessions that I think helped trigger the S&L crisis. And it was Congress that did it. It was Members of both parties in Congress that did it.”