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Rush Limbaugh on Tax Reform Conservative Talk-show Host

FactCheck: JFK lowered top income tax rate from 91% to 65%

Rush referred to this 1962 speech by Pres. Kennedy, pledging "across-the-board, top-to-bottom cut in personal and corporate income taxes" for the purpose of stimulating the economy.

Rush seems to have a case. But in fact, the top marginal tax rate in 1962 was 91% and JFK proposed lowering the top rate to 65% (compared to a top rate of 37% today). Similarly, the corporate tax rate in 1962 was 52% and JFK proposed lowering it to 47% (compared to a corporate rate of 15% today).

In the context of the much higher rates in 1962, cutting tax rates meant something very different than today--Rush presumably knew that context, and hence was lying about JFK's proposal. No politician of any party today would even consider RAISING tax rates to the LOWER levels proposed by JFK in 1962!

JFK believed in tax cuts to stimulate economy

KENNEDY: "This administration pledged itself last summer to an across-the-board, top-to-bottom cut in personal and corporate income taxes to be enacted and become effective in 1963. The federal government's most useful role is not to rush into a program of excessive increases in public expenditures, but to expand the incentives and opportunities of private expenditures. When consumers purchase more goods, plants use more of their capacity, men are hired instead of laid off, investment increases, & profits are high."

RUSH: JFK, a Democrat, is advocating tax cuts in the same sense that Arthur Laffer always has or Ronald Reagan or me or anybody else with a brain.

No trigger on tax cuts, “trigger lock” instead

If they go on a spending spree, they wipe out the surplus, trigger the trigger, and there is no tax cut. That’s why they’re for it. The existence of a trigger, in essence, puts their finger on it. They can pull the trigger on the tax cut and kill it, simply by spending more money! You know what we need instead of a trigger? We need a trigger lock in this bill. If they’re going to put a trigger in, that cancels tax cuts if the surplus doesn’t materialize, then we need a trigger lock so they can’t pull the trigger and spend your money. In reality, the trigger should be on the spending, not the tax cut. The Democrats have it completely backwards.

Targeted tax cuts make middle-class beholden to liberals

Folks, the liberals already own the lower class. They’ve already got them totally dependent on Washington. Now they’re going after the middle class, in order to get them totally dependent, so they’ll be afraid to support tax cuts at any time down the road.

They hope that middle-class Americans will think that tax cuts will mean less benefits from the government rather than more freedom, independence, and liberty. This is just outrageous. Lieberman wants a nation of slaves.

Tax fairness is simple: Give our money back

But it’s none of your damned business, Misters Daschle and Gephardt, what people do with their legally-earned, hard-won money, whether it comes from a tax cut or not. Your disdain for the people who make this country work and for liberty overall is shameful. The truth of the matter is, liberals are against any tax cut at all, because they want the money - your money - to spend themselves. It’s that simple. Who decides what is fair? Is it the liberal snobs of the Times editorial page? Is it Tom Daschle and Dick Gephardt driving to press conferences in their limousines? Fairness is simple: Give our money back.