What Ever Happened to the Tax Revolt?

Nineteen seventy-eight was the year of the tax revolt. In June, California’s Proposition 13, which slashed property taxes across the board, passed overwhelmingly. Meanwhile, the Kemp-Roth bill to cut federal income-tax rates by a third gained national publicity and became the official program of the Republican Party, while a revised version of the bill, offered by Senator Nunn, almost became law, with the Senate passing it in October.

With all this behind them and a mandate in the November elections, the proponents of radical tax reduction fully expected to take up this year where they had left off in 1978. Yet it now appears that the tax revolt has lost most of its steam. Howard Jarvis seems to have more or less drifted off into oblivion after parting ways with Paul Gann. Jack Kemp and Bill Roth are still pushing for income-tax-rate reduction, and they have now added indexing and spending-limitation sections to their bill. But the excitement has clearly gone out of their effort, and one rarely hears reference to Kemp-Roth anymore, even within the Congress. What has happened?

Nineteen seventy-eight was the year of the tax revolt. In June, California’s Proposition 13, which slashed property taxes across the board, passed overwhelmingly. Meanwhile, the Kemp-Roth bill to cut federal income-tax rates by a third gained national publicity and became the official program of the Republican Party, while a revised version of the bill, offered by Senator Nunn, almost became law, with the Senate passing it in October.

With all this behind them and a mandate in the November elections, the proponents of radical tax reduction fully expected to take up this year where they had left off in 1978. Yet it now appears that the tax revolt has lost most of its steam. Howard Jarvis seems to have more or less drifted off into oblivion after parting ways with Paul Gann. Jack Kemp and Bill Roth are still pushing for income-tax-rate reduction, and they have now added indexing and spending-limitation sections to their bill. But the excitement has clearly gone out of their effort, and one rarely hears reference to Kemp-Roth anymore, even within the Congress. What has happened?