When I worked in the White House for President Carter, we tried to do comprehensive tax reform and we made some progress, and other presidents have as well.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
In his 4 years in the White House, President Carter worked to make the Federal Government more competent and compassionate and more responsive to the American people.
We've got to have comprehensive tax reform.
And the cornerstone of my economic policies, when I first got elected, was cutting taxes on everybody on who paid taxes.
Now, the president would like to do tax reform, which would obviously lower rates for most people in America and make the tax code fair and get rid of loopholes and special treatment. But absent tax reform, the president believes the right way to get our fiscal house in order is ask the wealthy to pay their fair share.
I watched Reagan turn around the country by lowering taxes and controlling spending, and I'm applying the same principles.
I would agree that President Carter didn't live up to the expectation we all had when he came in 1976. My husband and I were young idealists who worked on his campaign.
For years, comprehensive tax reform has eluded legislators.
A long time ago, I watched President Reagan repeat a few simple points about the benefits for everyone of lower taxes, light regulations, and limited government. Successful policies are sold by repetition, not unrelated tangents.
Reagan was president and had Democrats control the House and Senate, and they reformed the tax code. Clinton was president, and he had Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole; they reformed welfare and balanced the budget.
I worked at the White House in the early Reagan administration at a time when the deficit rocket really started to take off.