House Ways and Means Committee
The House Ways and Means Committee is the primary body responsible for the United States Tax code, as well as most other revenue generating vehicles, like tariffs.
Speech Relevance[edit]
From 'Encroaching Control':
Two years ago, I had the experience of going to Washington representing the motion picture industry before the House Ways and Means Committee, to advocate the adoption of a tax reform program. This was an experience similar to going over Niagara Falls in a barrel...the hard way, upstream.
[laughter and applause]
In a month of unprecedented hearings, practically every segment of the American economy appeared before that program and 100% of those appearing demanded some kind of tax reform. But it was obvious there was little sympathy on the part of the majority of that committee with our views so it was a surprise when a few months later they decided to hold additional hearings on tax reform. This time, no volunteers. They would hand pick and invite a few selected witnesses and so a group mainly of campus economists appeared before the committee and they to talked tax reform.
Reagan spoke to the House Ways and Means Committee January 27, 1958 in support of HR 6452 and HR 9119 (also known as the Sadlak-Herlong bill). Contents of his testimony are housed in the National Archives, but can be found in the book Ideologue, Politician: The Speeches of Ronald Reagan. Reagan also goes into more depth regarding his testimony and the reaction he received in the speech 'Business, Ballots and Bureaus' (also found in Actor, Ideologue, Politician: The Speeches of Ronald Reagan).
Source Links[edit]
House Ways and Means Committee (Wikipedia)
Reagan Major Speech Chronology (includes reference to committee testimony)
