Truth in labeling

“Cut taxes, smaller government.” This slogan is the battle cry of the Republican Party, and it sounds great, but let’s see how it has really worked under Republican presidents.

During President Reagan’s eight years in office, 1981-1989, huge tax cuts were given to the wealthy and corporations, but it wasn’t paid for and was added to the federal debt, which almost tripled under Reagan’s presidency from $994 billion to $2.6 trillion.

President George W. Bush inherited a balanced budget and a $236 billion surplus from President Clinton’s administration. Bush gave huge tax cuts ($2 trillion) to the wealthy and corporations but it wasn’t paid for and was added to the federal debt, which under Bush almost doubled from $5.6 trillion to $10.6 trillion (about 84 percent of that federal debt occurred during Republican administrations). Bush left President Obama with a $1.2 trillion deficit for his first year in office.

The Republican slogan should be truthful and read something like this: “Large tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, just add the cost to the federal debt and let your children’s children pay it off.”

Larry L. Whitesitt

Fairfield