‘Just Ain’t Going to Be None,’ Reagan Says of Any Tax Hike

President Reagan, replying to one of the few questions at his news conference Tuesday night that was not about the American hostages in Lebanon, vowed once again to veto any tax increase.

“I don’t have to spend any time at all on that,” Reagan said, “because there just ain’t going to be none.”

Neglect of Issues Denied

Reagan insisted that he has not been ignoring other issues while the hostage situation has been going on. “You can’t just aim yourself at this tragedy, great as it is,” he said. “I don’t think that I neglected, in any way, because there is a limit to what you can do. Yes, we’re very serious about both the budget (and tax reform).”

Every time Reagan has been asked about a tax hike since he was reelected last November, he has pledged to block any increase in taxes, insisting that he would not allow his tax overhaul proposal to be changed into a tax hike in disguise.

Last week, congressional leaders again raised the issue of a possible tax increase after new estimates by the Administration suggested that proposed spending cuts would still leave the budget deficit far above Reagan’s target of $100 billion by the end of his term.

Deficit, Tax Hike Linked

House Budget Committee Chairman William H. Gray III (D-Pa.) said that the deficit targets could not be reached without a tax hike, and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) hinted that he would ask Reagan to accept a tax increase once Congress had reached agreement on a package that went as far as possible in trimming the deficit through spending cuts alone. But House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill Jr. (D-Mass.) quickly backed away from the proposal, saying that Congress would only consider a tax increase if Reagan proposed it.