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Don't Be Fooled--
Tax Cuts Add Up To More Revenue
by


This first appeared in the
North Hills News Record

More Money!

San Diego can breathe a sigh of relief after the Republican National Convention wraps up tonight. During the convention, Colin Powell, Nancy Reagan and Susan Molinari spoke from the heart and wowed the crowds.

Great. They gave you a good case of the warm fuzzies but they're not running for president. OK, I'll admit naming Jack Kemp to the VP slot was a smart move though you have to wonder what ol' Jack did to deserve this one-way ticket into obscurity.

But when the hoopla dies down there's still just the plain brown-wrapper Bob Dole. And he knows it. So in a last ditch effort to revive his otherwise dreary presidential campaign, Mr. Ho-hum is finally talking tax cuts.

Oooh the feeding frenzy in the media is ugly. Reporters and journalists are clutching their chests and whining about deficits. Of course, they never bother to find out how the deficits got there in the first place.

We have a deficit because the numbers prove Congress spends too much money. Numbers, however, don't usually mean a whole lot to the main-stream media. But sometimes you have to dig through the cold hard facts to make a point. Here are some numbers you shouldn't forget.

bullet After the shameless Reagan tax cuts of the 1980s, federal tax revenues flowing into the public trough increased NOT decreased by $1,100,000,000,000. ($1.1 trillion)
bullet After the so-called irresponsible Reagan tax cuts of the 1980's, the portion of federal income taxes paid by the top 5% of all earners increased NOT decreased from 36% in l980 to 43% in l990.
bullet In the l980s, the supposed decade of greed and insensitivity, the percentage of African-American families earning more than $50,000 in inflation adjusted dollars DOUBLED from 7 to l4%, the unemployment rate for black teenagers FELL by 21%, and black employment in professional and managerial jobs EXPANDED by one-third.
bullet During the decade of glass ceilings and male chauvinist pigs, the median weekly earnings of women grew 8% faster than the earnings of men. Women entrepreneurs ended the 1980's employing more people than the entire Fortune 500. The number of businesses they owned grew by 57% and their sales tripled.
bullet The decade of the tax cuts for the rich so the "rich got richer" and the "poor got poorer" saw family income increase every year from l983 through l990 in EVERY income group.

These are the facts about tax cuts. Allowing people to keep more of their own money is good NOT bad for the economy. The Republicans and Mr. Ho-hum (Bob Dole) in particular should keep hammering this point home. Anyone who tries to tell you a different story has an agenda they're trying to sell. Make sure you don't buy into it.

© Copyright Deborah A. Ayers 1996. All rights reserved.

Copyright © Deborah A. Ayers
All rights reserved.