Reagan Signs Tax Bill: ‘Victory for Fairness’

President Reagan, declaring victory in “the World Series of tax reform,” today climaxed a 16-month campaign by signing the tax overhaul bill in a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House.

The measure, the product of intensive lobbying and a compromise between a Republican-led Senate and a Democratic-run House, is a far cry from the President’s original proposal, but he embraced it as a “sweeping victory for fairness.”

Administration officials and key members of Congress were in the audience of about 1,000, but not all of the roughly 600 seats in front of the President were full, so aides invited groups touring the White House to fill the empty rows.

After Reagan and the officials surrounding him broke into laughter during the actual signing, the President walked over to a microphone and told the audience, “If you’re curious as to what we’re laughing about, I’m to blame. I was in such a hurry I wrote my last name first.”

White House spokesman Larry Speakes said Reagan went back and “wrote in ‘Ronald’ just above and slightly to the left” of “Reagan.”

‘The Best . . . Bill’

Reagan told the audience that the new tax code will be “the best anti-poverty bill, the best pro-family measure and the best job-creation program ever to come out of the Congress of the United States.

“I feel like we’ve just played the World Series of tax reform and the American people won.”

The White House said Reagan logged more than 15,000 miles to 14 cities last year in pursuit of tax reform. The outcome was a 33-pound, 879-page bill that will touch the pocket of every American and force changes in business and the economy.

Reagan campaigned for the plan on radio and television and in the speeches all across the nation.

Despite the hoopla, Republicans and Democrats in Congress said for months that their constituents showed little interest in the issue.

Lackluster Response

The President put the tax campaign on the back burner for the summer, returning to it with a speech in Independence, Mo., in which he conceded the lackluster response.

“In a democracy like ours, it’s hard for us to get worked up and united over something unless it’s truly dramatic, like a sensational murder,” he said.

“Well, our tax code is not a sensational murder--it’s more like a daily mugging.”

Reagan kept up the drumfire nevertheless--on the road, on the radio and in White House meetings with diverse groups.

In late September, still shy of the votes needed to get the compromise through the House, Reagan sent a letter to all House members appealing for their support.

The House passed the tax overhaul Sept. 25; the Senate acted two days later.