June 24, 1983

I am both saddened and appalled that the liberal House leadership is pursuing a strategy that would jeopardize our hard-earned recovery. Their continuing drive toward higher spending and higher taxes on middle-income families can only be considered a threat to the health of our economy. By approving yesterday their so-called tax cap, the Democratic House has renounced John F. Kennedy's criteria for growth and opportunity -- equal tax rate reductions for all working Americans.

Their permanent tax increase, if enacted, would be a betrayal of 2.4 million small businesses, 350,000 family farms, and millions of middle-income married couples filing joint returns.

I am confident that the Senate next week will defeat this ill-advised, misguided, and politically motivated proposal. Let the American people know -- their full 10-percent tax cut due on July 1st will go into effect on schedule. Our economy is just beginning to sparkle with robust growth and the lowest inflation in a decade. I stand ready to veto this tax increase should it reach my desk and any spending bills that would send inflation and interest rates shooting up again. The American people have worked too hard for this economic recovery to see it now thrown to the winds of political gimmickry.

 

Date
06/24/1983