[Opinionated Blowhard]

I think exempting people from taxes makes them want more spending, since they are not paying for it.

Exactly. I remember Reagan himself playing up the fact that he took millions of people off the tax rolls. In retrospect, that was a huge mistake. It allows the bottom two-thirds of the population to continually vote themselves a larger share of the income of the top 10%. Its a death spiral. Everyone should pay tax -- everyone. Reform conservatives like Huckabee are just Christian Socialists.

[Pontiac]

Exactly. I remember Reagan himself playing up the fact that he took millions of people off the tax rolls. In retrospect, that was a huge mistake. It allows the bottom two-thirds of the population to continually vote themselves a larger share of the income of the top 10%. Its a death spiral.

I don’t think that was Reagan’s true philosophy but Reagan playing politics as all presidents must

We here commenting anonymously on the internet can be purist. Presidents must bow to public opinion and perception.

Reagan was constantly under attack as being mean, selfish and a tool of the rich. So he had to make compromises to the political winds that he tacked against quite successfully on the whole.