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Taxers And Spenders

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John Vogler

Published: November 1, 2008

I have heard the term "tax" and "spend" used so derogatorily about the Democrats by many Republicans in their campaign spiels that I decided to find out the validity of the usage. That meant a little research into the federal budget about income, spending and related borrowing.
After a little digging I wondered, maybe the wrong party was labeled taxers and spenders. Take a look at the results of the following information. What do you think?
I quickly found that I could not limit the scope of this examination to the present situation, so I went back 40 years to 1967, it includes four presidents before the current incumbent (G.W. Bush.) These four presidents are equally divided, two from each party with one four year termer and one eight-year-termer. Dollars are in billions and are founded to the nearest Billion.
Carter (1977-80); Income ($1,736 billion); Spending ($1,962 billion); Deficit ($227 billion.)
Regan (1981-88); Income ($5,749 billion); Spending ($6,024 billion); Deficit ($1,337 billion.)
Bush, GH (1989-92); Income ($4,166 billion); Spending ($5,101 billion); Deficit ($932 billion.)
Clinton (1993-2000); Income ($12,366 billion); Spending ($12,6491 billion); Deficit ($290 billion.)
Bush, GW (2001-04); Income ($7,506 billion); Spending ($8,324 billion); Deficit ($819 billion.)
Bush, GW (2005-08); Income ($9,661 billion); Spending ($10,927 billion); Deficit ($1,132 billion.)
Federal debt for the presidents is as follows:
Carter 1975; ($533 billion); Reagan 1985; ($1,823 billion); Clinton 1993; ($4,351 billion); Bush, GW 2005; ($7,905 billion.)
Conclusions: Based primarily on the above yearly factors, Carter is by far the lowest taxer and spender and the greatest is Bush, GW in his second term. The reader should remember that any funds cited are for their current value as originally reported. That means the funds of past years do not reflect the costs of inflation or the changes in the world value of the dollar.
John Vogler
Sebring

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