Because you’d have to propose increasing taxes. Republicans/Reagan cut the top tax rate in half (70->35) and lucked into one of the best economic growths for a while as the Carter/Volker shock finally panned out and interest rates were dropped. It’s why Reagonmics and a trickle down economy were able to remain major Republicans platforms since then.
So proposing a tax increase viewed as bad for the economy was a non-starter. The capture of both political parties to capitalism and business was probably more a kicked can from Mccarthy anticommunism stuff.
Why didn’t we ever reopen them?
I mean, I know why we don’t now, but we had a few decades since Reagan of occasionally reasonable administrations…
Because you’d have to propose increasing taxes. Republicans/Reagan cut the top tax rate in half (70->35) and lucked into one of the best economic growths for a while as the Carter/Volker shock finally panned out and interest rates were dropped. It’s why Reagonmics and a trickle down economy were able to remain major Republicans platforms since then.
So proposing a tax increase viewed as bad for the economy was a non-starter. The capture of both political parties to capitalism and business was probably more a kicked can from Mccarthy anticommunism stuff.