Reagan Urges Other Nations to Cut Tax Rates

President Reagan, extolling the virtues of tax revision, said Saturday that the industrialized world should follow America’s example and cut tax rates in order to spur sluggish economic growth.

“America won’t be able to grow and prosper indefinitely if the rest of the world economy is dragging behind,” the President warned in his regular weekly radio address.

Reagan appeared to blame the nation’s trade imbalance and stagnant growth levels on the declining economic performance of other industrialized countries, particularly in Europe. He did not mention the huge budget deficit amassed during his Administration as a possible cause of economic distress.

‘Hurts American Workers’

“We’re already beginning to see the slowing effects on our own economy of sluggish world growth,” Reagan said. “Without faster growth, other countries simply can’t afford to buy as many of our goods and services and that hurts American workers.”

Reagan said the Europeans regard the economic expansion that has taken place under his leadership as “the American miracle,” and have “talked enviously” of the U.S. record of economic growth and job creation.

“Now is their opportunity to join us,” Reagan said, “to carry this revolution of hope and opportunity around the world and create a strong, sound and growing world economy.”

Reagan called on Congress to act promptly and pass the tax overhaul bill when it reconvenes in September. A Senate-House conference committee overwhelmingly approved a compromise agreement on Aug. 16, and final passage is ex pected by the full House and Senate soon after they return from summer recess on Sept. 8.

“There is absolutely no reason for any further delay, which only causes uncertainty and puts a damper on investment and economic growth,” Reagan said.

Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan, who accompanied Reagan on the first leg of his vacation here, told reporters earlier in the week that his friends on Wall Street are “just as confused as I am” about the initial impact of the sweeping tax overhaul measure.

Congressional tax writers, with the help of Treasury Department experts, are currently drafting transition rules that will phase in aspects of the bill and lessen the trauma for the business community.

Still, many economic experts fear that the initial impact of such drastic tax revision could slow the nation’s growth levels, which are already behind Administration predictions, and make U.S. corporations less competitive around the world.

Regan scoffed at such dire predictions, adding that those who make them “are going to win an Olympic medal for conclusion jumping.”

‘Chorus of Pessimists’

President Reagan, in his radio address, recalled how “a chorus of pessimists predicted failure” when he first instructed the Treasury Department, then headed by Regan, to overhaul the tax system.

“Tax reform, they said, stood about as much chance as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs,” Reagan said, crediting the turnaround to America’s “can-do spirit that sees every obstacle as a challenge, every problem as an opportunity.”

In the weekly Democratic radio response, New York Rep. Charles B. Rangel, a member of the conference committee that worked out the compromise tax legislation, criticized the President for demanding a bill that would not raise taxes.

He said that Congress went along in an effort to preserve the bill’s revision measures. “But isn’t the President deceiving himself and the nation as a whole . . . ?” he asked. “Our national debt has doubled in the 5 1/2 years that the President has been in office.”

Custom-Made Saddle

Saturday concluded the first of three weeks of vacation for the Reagans. They marked it with a belated birthday party for Nancy Reagan, who turned 65 on July 6. The President gave her a custom-made saddle, which was waiting for her when she arrived at the ranch.

About 40 couples, all personal friends of the Reagans, made their way up the tortuous mountain roads to Reagan’s “ranch in the sky.” The hosts were Mr. and Mrs. William Wilson and Mr. and Mrs. Earle M. Jorgensen, longtime friends of the Reagans.

On Tuesday, the Reagans will head for Los Angeles for three days of mostly private, social events before returning to their ranch for a final 10 days of solitude to prepare themselves for the rigors of the fall legislative and campaign season.