Snow Calls For Return To 'Reaganomics'

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

21 June 2004

US Treasury Secretary John Snow told a conference last Thursday that the United States must continue cutting taxes and rolling back excessive regulation and 'big' government if it is to counter the economic threat posed by emerging economies such as China and India.

“The ability of the American economy to be dynamic and strong is very much dependent on the ability of America's entrepreneurs to be fast-moving and creative,” Snow told the Women’s High Tech Coalition in San Jose, California.

He continued: “That's why government needs to keep a constant watch on the things that create drag on private industry – things like excessive taxation and regulation, high health care costs and a legal environment where abusive lawsuits run rampant over entrepreneurs.”

The Treasury Secretary pointed to the effects that President Bush’s recent tax cuts have had on job creation and the economy in general as a case in point, noting how the economy has witnessed the strongest three quarter growth rate in nearly twenty years.

However, he also looked back to the policies of the late Ronald Reagan as a blueprint for future tax policy.

“Reagan saw that taxes were out of control, that government had grown far too much, like a weed that seems harmless but can choke a tree – not intentionally, but due to its own growth,” he told the audience, adding:

"So Reagan took brave steps to cut taxes dramatically, and continue the regulatory reforms of the 1970s…and these actions led to some of the greatest economic times our country has ever known."

Recommended