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By Patricia L Johnson and Richard E Walrath
President Clinton was voted into office in 1992 and served for eight years. When he took over the office of President we had three tax rates, 15%, 28% and 31% and the country had been running deficits that added to the national debt for decades.
During his first term in office; the income tax rates in this country were raised by adding two additional categories, 35% and 39.6% for high earners. The tax increases turned the entire system around and by the time Clinton left office we had a $236 billion dollar surplus for FY 2000.
The first thing President Bush did when he entered office was reduce tax rates, mostly benefiting the rich and big business until we reached the current low rate of 10% and high rate of 35%. These rates are scheduled to stay in effect until the end of 2012 due to the fact our Republican controlled congress refuses to increase taxes on the wealthy.
*Republican controlled congress refuses to increase taxes on wealthy.
Whether the various tax increases/decreases were initiated under Republican and/or Democratic Presidents is not as important as the results achieved by the changes.
In the area of Jobs
Under higher taxes 23.1 million jobs were added to the economy during the eight years of the Clinton administration. Under lower taxes approximately 3.0 million jobs were added during the eight years of the George W. Bush administration. On a per year basis, Clinton created more jobs per year than 10 other presidents, from George W. Bush, through Harry S. Truman.
In the area of the National Debt in real numbers and as a percentage of GDP
The National Debt after Clinton's two terms in office, with higher taxes, stood at $5.7 trillion. When Clinton went into office the debt as a percentage of GDP was 66.1 percent. When he left office eight years later, debt as a percentage of GDP was 56.4 percent or an eight-year decrease of 9.7 percent.
The National Debt after Bush's two terms in office, with lowered taxes, stood at $10.0 trillion. When Bush went into office the debt as a percentage of GDP was 56.4 percent. When he left office eight years later, debt as a percentage of GDP was 63.5 percent or an eight-year increase of 7.1 percent.
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