When Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1980, no one knew how much the Republican Party — and the country — was about to change. His historic tax bills in 1981 and 1986 forged a new path of American economic policy, setting the stage for today’s antitax frenzy.
Behind the president’s tax cuts was a small group of powerful economists who took a chance on a brand-new school of thought and sought to convert an entire generation of policymakers.
Part Two of Lever Time’s special miniseries Tax Revolt tells the story of the people who pushed Ronald Reagan toward the supply-side economics he’d one day be famous for — and convinced him to launch his national war on taxes.
What’s more, in an in-depth bonus episode and Q&A exclusively for paid subscribers, we sit down with Art Laffer, the godfather of supply-side economics, to discuss:
- The California actor-turned-lawmaker who ballooned the national debt.
- The kitchen-cabinet approach that would upend a half century of economic policy.
- Why one economist thinks getting rich is just “human nature” — and why “there’s something very wrong with poor people.”
If you’re already a subscriber, click here to access the interview.
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It is so hard to listen to Laffer’s cocky assertions of ideological bias disguised as “math.”
Will the next episode be the takedown ?