Quote Originally Posted by The Redneck
You complain about high taxes? I say at least he got us into a surplus that was needed. You either have to cut spending(which was not going to happen) or you raise taxes.
Herein, I disagree--and I believe the facts support me. You lower taxes--the people, now free to spend their own money without having it confiscated, don't lock it all in a vault so they can swim in it like Scrooge McDuck when they're feeling blue but put it back into the economy so they can make more money. The economy improves, and with a larger pool to draw money from revenues grow.

While the national debt grew during Reagan's term, it was because spending spiralled out of control (Reagan's budget proposals were proudly anounced Dead On Arrival in the Democrat-controlled Congress), not a lack of revenue--in fact, revenue more than doubled during that eight years. Revenue has likewise grown after Bush's tax cuts (although, unfortunately, so has spending), and after JFK's tax cuts.
You mean kind of like now...wait. That isn't what is happening. What you said about lower taxes works only in theory and has yet to actually work. While what you say isn't exactly false, it also isn't true either. There needs to be a balance. You can't have low taxes all the time. If you do then your debt will spiral out of control like it did during Regan and both Bushes. Usually this leads to inflation and a weaker currency. A weaker currency can be nice but if it is also an unstable currency then it is bad for the economy in general as Foriegners will be less likely to invest. Having high taxes doesn't really encourage spending but it can help combat inflation and a weak currency. It also helps to make a currency a bit more stable as people are confident in it. It also gives you the ability to lower taxes to a nice rate and still keep everything balanced. Also if any big disasters occur it can help out a lot by not increasing a deficit or debt due to the surplus.

In the end it is a good idea to have a mix of both and to know when to use low taxes and high taxes to help move the economy and country in a stable and correct direction.

Clinton's high taxes were a good move because of how the economy was booming. They wanted to let it grow but not get out of control. High taxes gives people less to spend and thus really wouldn't be doing tons of investing. Despite high taxes over investment still occured. He did the right thing to try and prevent another stock collapse but it just was inevitable(if this was his intention or not, it was still the correct thing to do).