Gentlemen,

Lest we forget the major tax bill affecting rates was passed in Oct. 1986. Recall also that Democrats controlled the House, R's the Senate. Democrats Bill Bradley and Dick Gephardt, were prime tax reform leaders in the Senate and House respectively. I dug up the vote tally in the Senate: 97-3 yea!. Here's a little history lesson. See p 5 of the pdf for a tax reform timeline preceeding this.

http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metacrs8419/m1/1/high_res_d/IP267T.pdf

Point: Don't blame any purported residual effects of 80's tax policy solely on Reagan. He couldn't have done it without bipartisan help... and back then they actually did pass budgets, iirc.

Note: I am well aware that the debt rose on Reagan's watch: 900B to 2.6T.
I am also aware the debt rose on Clinton's watch by a slightly smaller amount:4.0T to 5.6T. But what's 100 billion among friends, huh?Government - Historical Debt Outstanding - Annual 1950 - 1999