Peter Beinart reminds Republicans that Reagan raised taxes

For people serious about the deficit, it’s well-recognized that Ronald Reagan wasn’t the tax-cutting behemoth that conservatives love.  Yes, he cut taxes a lot, but he also raised them quite frequently during his presidency.  Though he did set us on an unsustainable path of structural deficits, he at least was not dogmatic about tax cuts.

This point is well-established, but the only way to convince non-ideologues but people who nonetheless support tax cuts is to hit them on the head with the point over and over until it begins to sink in.  In that vein, here is Peter Beinart‘s recent article at The Daily Beast, “The Republicans’ Reagan Amnesia.”

The main point of his article is that even Reagan’s policies belied his rhetoric, as government grew and grew and grew under his watch.  But people ignore that, and his tax raises, and only remember the hagiography.  The real lesson of the previous thirty years is that Republicans expand government at the expense of the unborn (what irony!) who will have to pay that debt.  His Beinart’s money quote:

Last week in Hawaii, the Republican National Committee almost passed a resolution named after the Gipper. “Whereas President Ronald Reagan believed that the Republican Party should support and espouse conservative principles and public policies,” it declared, only candidates who complied with eight of 10 “Reaganite” principles would be eligible for party funds.

And what were those principles, exactly? No. 1—according to the resolution—was “smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes.” Let’s take those from the top. Smaller government: Federal employment grew by 61,000 during Reagan’s presidency—in part because Reagan created a whole new cabinet department, the department of veterans affairs. (Under Bill Clinton, by contrast, federal employment dropped by 373,000). Smaller deficits and debt: Both nearly tripled on Reagan’s watch. Lower taxes: Although Reagan muscled through a major tax cut in 1981, he followed up by raising taxes in 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1986. In 1983, in fact, he not only raised payroll taxes; he raised them to pay for Social Security and Medicare. Let’s put this in language today’s tea-baggers can understand: Reagan raised taxes to pay for government-run health care.