Travels to Illinois in Support of Revisions : Reagan Criticizes Media Reports on Tax Plan

President Reagan, ending a series of trips to tout his tax revision program, expressed frustration Thursday at his lack of success in stirring up support and charged that the national news media had failed to explain the proposal adequately to the public.

In the last five months, Reagan has made 13 out-of-town appearances to press for grass-roots backing for his tax overhaul plan, which faces little chance of passage in Congress this year. Still, he complained, “the truth is, many people don’t know the real story” of the plan because it “hasn’t been given much space by the national media.”

‘Did Its Job’

In contrast, he said the local media in Cincinnati, where he visited last week, “did its job and did it well” in explaining the Administration’s program of lower tax rates and fewer tax deductions. According to Reagan, one poll showed that support for the plan soared 14 percentage points in Cincinnati after his speech.

Throughout the fall, the President’s travels on behalf of his proposal have been overshadowed by international events, including the Soviet Union’s new proposal for nuclear arms reductions; the release of the Rev. Benjamin Weir from captivity in Lebanon, and the hijacking of the Italian luxury liner Achille Lauro by Palestinian terrorists.

Talks of Deficit

In addition, Reagan during recent weeks has begun to talk more of reducing the federal budget deficit at the same time he has pushed tax reform.

On Thursday, he told an audience of bakery workers at a Sara Lee plant in this Chicago suburb that tax reform, combined with deficit reduction, would create “a sure recipe for a vibrant, surging economy into the 21st Century.”

He also continued to insist that tax revision legislation can be passed by the end of the year, saying: “Tax fairness will be America’s Christmas present to ourselves--and we shouldn’t let any Grinch steal our Christmas this year.”

But even some of the strongest supporters of the President’s plan have conceded that tax revision is unlikely this year. Last month Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) told reporters that he saw little enthusiasm for tax reform in his state and said the subject is seldom mentioned.

Chairman’s Turf

Reagan has focused his campaign on districts represented by members of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee and Thursday’s appearances, which included a stop at Gordon Technical High School in Chicago, brought him onto the turf of committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.).

Rostenkowski had declined an invitation to join Reagan in Illinois, citing the need to press ahead on rewriting the tax bill before his committee. But the panel instead put off any work on the plan for the day because of debate over protectionist trade legislation and deliberations among Democrats on a balanced-budget measure.