John F. Kennedy Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ====Taxes==== {{further|Presidency of John F. Kennedy#Taxes and the Treasury}} [[Walter Heller]], who served as the chairman of the CEA, advocated for a [[Keynesian economics|Keynesian]]-style tax cut designed to help spur economic growth, and Kennedy adopted this policy.{{sfn|Patterson|1996|pp=464β465}} The idea was that a tax cut would stimulate consumer demand, which in turn would lead to higher economic growth, lower unemployment, and increased federal revenues.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|p=125}} To the disappointment of liberals like [[John Kenneth Galbraith]], Kennedy's embrace of the tax cut shifted his administration's focus away from the proposed old-age health insurance program and other domestic expenditures.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=136β137}} In January 1963, Kennedy proposed a tax cut that would reduce the top marginal tax rate from 91 to 65 percent, and lower the corporate tax rate from 52 to 47 percent. The predictions according to the Keynesian model indicated the cuts would decrease income taxes by about $10 billion and corporate taxes by about $3.5 billion. The plan included reforms designed to reduce the impact of [[itemized deduction]]s, as well as provisions to help the elderly and handicapped. Republicans and many Southern Democrats opposed the bill, calling for simultaneous reductions in expenditures, but debate continued throughout 1963.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=139β141}} Three months after Kennedy died, Johnson pushed the plan through Congress. The [[Revenue Act of 1964]] lowered the top individual rate to 70 percent, and the top corporate rate to 48 percent.<ref>{{cite book |title=Why Budgets Matter: Budget Policy and American Politics |last=Ippolito |first=Dennis |year=2004 |publisher=Penn State Press |pages=173β175|isbn=0-271-02260-4}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page