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Show THE VOICE OF BUSINESS Don'v bury supply-side economics frv if By Richard L. Lesher, Pres., Chamber of Commerce of the United States Stop that funderal dirge. Take off the black veil and stop payment on the mortician's mor-tician's check. There will be not burial for supply-side economics today. We can't bury something we haven't tried. Haven't tried. What about the "massive" 1981 tax cut that promised to leave $960 billion in the pockets of American taxpayers between 1982 and 1987? That's not small change, you know. ' Well, I am sorry truly sorry to say that the other day I sharpened my pencil pen-cil and practiced my grade school arithmetic. ..subtraction. 4 . ..For starters, the 1981 tax cut was 69 percent cancelled before it ever passed due to Jimmy Carter's social security tax increases, the "windfall profits" tax, and inflation-fueled bracket creep totall-! totall-! ing $660 billion. That left taxpayers with j a net tax cut of only $300 billion. In September of this past year, Con-' Con-' gress decided that even this was too generous and subtracted another $229 billion from the 1982-1987 tax relief. Now where do we stand? Oh, yes, at $71 billion. Then came the gasoline "user fee." Scotch another $16 billion. That leaves $55 billion. Keep your pencil at the ready because state and local governments got into the act raising their taxes by $32 billion in -1981 and $25 billion in 1982. Good-bye "massive" tax cut. In sum, the taxes you and I pay to federal, state and local government actually ac-tually rose from $838 billion in 1980 to $957 billion in 1981 and reached $968 billion in 1982! Our taxes are going up, not down. This is not supply-side economics. Supply-side economics argues that if you tax something you get less of it. And for too long government has been taxing hard work and savings destroying jobs and draining off the savings and investment invest-ment capital America needs to create new jobs. What supply-side economics isn't is an "untested theory" or a "river boat gamble." History and common sense combine to demonstrate its validity. When President Calvin Coolidgeredt ed the top marginal tax rates from; percent to 25 percent, the America economy responded with the Roan Twenties. Forty years later, President John Ka nedy cut all tax rates by 22 percent ovt a two-year period to "get America m ing again." Unemployment droppe below four percent. Supply-side economics reducii; taxes and controlling governrm: spending has served America's wort ing men and women well in the past I will work for us today if we give it tb opportunity. j American humorist Mark Twainone read his obituary in the newspaper au: remarked that the "reports of my dealt are greatly exaggerated." The tax an: spend politicians whose policies broujjt us the present recession and who it sistently proclaim the death of supph side economics are likewist premature and self-serving. |