Rest of Reagan story

Gary Crooks implies President Reagan is unworthy of his reputation as a tax reformer in his May 25 Smart Bombs column. Crooks does not lie in his article, but he leaves out some significant details. Those increases all paled in comparison to his signature reform, which changed a system with 16 brackets ranging from 14 percent to 70 percent down to two brackets of 15 percent and 28 percent, which were then indexed for inflation.

Crooks also notes the spending binge during the Reagan years that greatly increased the deficits. He neglects to mention that Reagan only agreed to the 1982 tax increase when Democrats agreed to cut spending by $3 for every $1 increase in the law. They then promptly reneged, instead increasing spending by about $3 and resulting in the huge spending increase.

Crooks may like to mention a temporary 5-cent gas increase and a needed shoring-up of Social Security as proof that Reagan was a tax lover, but in a real comparison, Reagan was a true tax reformer and presided over an economy that would make President Obama green with envy.

And that’s the rest of the story!

Hal Dixon

Spokane