ON THE MATTER OF President Ronald Reagan From 1982 to 1990, the USA experienced 92 continuous months of economic growth.

growth. 20 million jobs created - 82% of these were in the higher-skilled, higher-paying occupations. Not to mention more created in the government. Average real family income grew over 15% from 1982 to 1989. For the poorest fifth of Americans, real income grew almost 12%. Families earning more than $50,000 (in 1990 dollars) went from less than 25% of families in 1980 to 31% in 1990. The percentage of families earning less than $15,000 dropped Of those who were in the bottom-fifth income bracket in 1979, 65% jumped at least two income brackets during the 1980s. More of these people made it all the way to the top than stayed in the poorest group. Taxpayers were five times more likely to increase their income than have it fall. Families with incomes between $10,000 and $50,000 a year experienced a higher percentage of growth in net worth than those in the top-one-fifth income group. The top 1% paid more than 25% of all federal income taxes in 1990, a 40% increase over 1980. The bottom 60% paid 11% of federal taxes in 1990 - 20% less than in 1980. The black middle class grew rapidly, from 2.6 million house-holds with incomes of $25,000 or more in 1979, to 3.9 million in 1989. Between 1983 and 1989, the total population under the poverty line decreased by 3.8 million people, with an unprecedented number of poor entering the work force. The poor were not neglected: federal spending on the poor for income, food, healthcare, housing, education, training, and social services increased. Between 1978 and 1982, the number of poor b blacks rose by more than 2 million, between 1982 and 1989 the number of poor blacks fell by 400,000. giving. So, despite the charge that the rich got richer, the poor got poorer, and the middle class was almost decimated during the 1980s, all income groups from the poorest to the richest experienced real income gains. Yet during the Carter years - when liberalism was flourishing - only the income of the top 1% grew. The share of income gains going to the top 1% grew. The share of income gains going to the top 1% of families was 160% higher under Carter than under Reagan.

The 1980s was a decade of greatly increased personal and corporate charitable

Between 1982 and 1989, real after-tax income per person rose by 15.5%, and real median income of families, before taxes, went up 12.5%. Did he cut governmental safety nets? No, he didn't. Federal spending on poverty programs in 1991 dollars increased from $140 billion in 1982 to $180 billion in 1991, an annual growth rate of 3%. In other words, the welfare state grew under Reagan - and the liberals are STILL complaining! Massive deficit? Wrong again. The deficit did rise to $230 billion in 1985-86, but if you look at 1987, 88, and 89, when the real economic growth reached full steam, the deficit fell to $150 billion, even with the unchecked spending. It should be pointed out that even President Reagan begrudgingly agreed to sign on to a couple of "deficit reduction" tax increases, one of which was, at the time, the largest tax increase in the nation's history, which included $2 of spending cuts for every $1 in increased tax revenue. But guess what? In a foreshadowing of its double-cross of George Bush in 1990, the Congress failed to make the budget cuts it had pledged. During the Reagan tax-cut era, IRS collections actually nearly doubled. When Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, the top marginal tax rate was at 70%. When he left office in 1989, the top marginal rate was down 28%. Liberal logic (an oxymoron if ever there was one) would thus suggest that the government would collect less money in taxes because the rates have been cut. Right? Wrong. Actual revenues nearly doubled, from $550 B to about $991 B. How did that happen? Because cuts in marginal tax rates spur economic growth by providing entrepreneurs an incentive to invest their marginal tax dollars, causing many of them to earn more money and pay more taxes on their earnings, albeit at a lower marginal rate, and create new jobs. These new jobs result in a bigger employment base, and thus, more taxpayers. More taxpayers translates into higher tax revenues - even at lower marginal rates. So, next time you think to bash the conservative ideology and particularly the Great President Ronald Reagan, please keep these things in mind.

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