Orrin Hatch: “I am afraid our colleagues on the other side completely ignore what happened during the Reagan years. In their zeal to…”

“I am afraid our colleagues on the other side completely ignore what happened during the Reagan years. In their zeal to say that President Reagan caused the budget deficits, they ignore the impact of the marginal tax rate reductions that occurred during those years. The reason I know a little bit about this is because I was one of a handful who worked very hard to convince President Reagan to cut the marginal tax rates, which at that point topped out at 70 percent in this country. He cut the maximum rate down to 28 percent by 1986. I remember all the arguments that were raised then by our colleagues on the other side; and they basically centered on the fact that if you cut taxes like that, you will run us into huge deficits because by cutting taxes, you will cut revenues. Those were the arguments made by our colleagues on the other side. They have completely glossed over what really happened in saying that all of the subsequent deficits occurred because of Ronald Reagan and his tax cuts.”