Of course tax revenues increased. They nearly doubled. Government did not shrink, it grew. Since Reagan took office in the post 1974 era, he also had to deal with baseline budgeting and the CBO. As I recall, the CBO projected his economic plan (including the tax increases) to be fairly revenue neutral, so I suspect that the Dems agreed to the plan expecting the economy NOT to significantly improve. Of course the religious statist democrats would not cut spending. They lied. Big surprise. When has a Statist ever wanted to reduce spending? It's the basis of their power. They wanted him to be a one term president. I also suspect that this is why Volcker reduced the money supply 50% more than what Reagan wanted, to make the inevitable recession more painful. Typical Keynesian thinking. Reagan's policies worked despite of the fact taxes were raised on some (but not all, or even the majority) of people.
We have yet to have a Conservative President and a Conservative Congress at the same time. GW Bush was merely another Statist.
Last edited by Ken61; 10/01/14 11:35 PM.
