I see that former Senator Alan Simpson, co-chair of the deficit reduction commission, is angry with anti-tax fanatics for saying that he supported tax increases while in the Senate. Without checking his voting record, I think it's reasonable to assume that Simpson, like almost all Republicans in the Senate in the 1980s, probably voted for the many tax increases supported and signed into law by Ronald Reagan, which eventually took back half of the 1981 tax cut (see below).
It may come as a surprise to some people that once upon a time in the not-too-distant past Republicans actually cared enough about budget deficits that they thought raising taxes was necessary to bring them down. Today, Republicans believe that deficits are nothing more than something to ignore when they are in power and to bludgeon Democrats with when they are out of power.
Legislated Tax Changes by Ronald Reagan as of 1988
| Tax Cuts | Billions of Dollars |
| Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 | -264.4 |
| Interest and Dividends Tax Compliance Act of 1983 | -1.8 |
| Federal Employees’ Retirement System Act of 1986 | -0.2 |
| Tax Reform Act of 1986 | -8.9 |
| Total cumulative tax cuts | -275.3 |
| Tax Increases | Billions of Dollars |
| Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 | +57.3 |
| Highway Revenue Act of 1982 | +4.9 |
| Social Security Amendments of 1983 | +24.6 |
| Railroad Retirement Revenue Act of 1983 | +1.2 |
| Deficit Reduction Act of 1984 | +25.4 |
| Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 | +2.9 |
| Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 | +2.4 |
| Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 | +0.6 |
| Continuing Resolution for 1987 | +2.8 |
| Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 | +8.6 |
| Continuing Resolution for 1988 | +2.0 |
| Total cumulative tax increases | +132.7 |
Source: Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 1990 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1989), p. 4-4.
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