In 1981, after Democrats were traumatized by President Reagan's victory, both parties got into a virtual bidding war to shred the tax code. The result was two decades of deficits and a quadrupling of the national debt. Now the context for tax politics is a budget surplus. The Republicans want to hand out nearly a trillion dollars in tax cuts. The administration is willing to discuss a much smaller tax cut, maybe a quarter of that amount, and one that would be targeted to less affluent Americans rather than the rich.
Polls show that most voters consider a tax cut to be a fairly low priority.
As in the case of the patients' bill of rights, the tactical question is, who blinks first. But this time, the issues are cutting in Clinton's direction. The laissez-faire 1980s are history. The public mood now favors a measure of public regulation and public spending. Needed public outlay was shelved for two decades in the name of deficit-reduction.