Jackson (with 21 percent), and Michael Dukakis
(with 19 percent).
Impact Tanner ’88influenced the growth of the
“mockumentary” style, solidified HBO’s reputation
for innovative productions, and extended the repu-
tations of Robert Altman (who won an Emmy for his
direction) and Gary Trudeau as brilliant critics of
American culture.
Further Reading
Goff, Michael J.The Money Primar y: The New Politics
of the Early Presidential Politics.Lanham, Md.:
Rowman & Littlefield, 2004.
Juhasz, Alexandra, and Jesse Lerner, eds.F is for
Phony: Fake Documentar y and Truth’s Undoing.Min-
neapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2006.
Keyssar, Helene.Robert Altman’s America.New York:
Oxford University Press, 1991.
Trudeau, G. B.Flashbacks: Twenty-Five Years of
“Doonesbur y.”Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel,
1995.
Carolyn Anderson
See also Atwater, Lee; Bush, George H. W.; Cable
television; Comic strips; Dukakis, Michael; Elections
in the United States, 1988; Hart, Gary; Jackson,
Jesse; Liberalism in U.S. politics; Television.
Tax Reform Act of 1986
Identification U.S. federal legislation
Date Became law on October 22, 1986
The Tax Reform Act of 1986 made major changes in how
income was taxed in the United States by simplifying the tax
code, reducing the top marginal income tax rate, and elimi-
nating many tax shelters and other preferences.
Though it was officially deemed revenue neutral be-
cause it did not increase overall tax levels, the Tax
Reform Act of 1986 significantly altered the distribu-
tion of federal taxes. The top tax rate was lowered
from 50 percent to 28 percent, and the bottom rate
was raised from 11 percent to 15 percent, the only
time in history that the top rate was reduced and the
bottom rate was simultaneously increased. Other re-
forms of the act included reducing the capital gains
tax to the same tax rate as that for ordinary income
and increasing incentives favoring investment in
owner-occupied housing relative to rental housing
by increasing the home mortgage interest deduc-
tion. Because the measure was seen as revenue neu-
tral, the act passed by a large bipartisan majority in
Congress.
The bill originated in a Democratic tax reform
proposal first advanced in August, 1982, by Senator
Bill Bradley and Representative Dick Gephardt, as
well as in President Ronald Reagan’s call for tax re-
form in his January, 1984, state of the union address.
As enacted, the legislation cut individual tax rates
more than had originally been anticipated, but it cut
corporate taxes less than originally proposed. The
law shifted tax liability from individuals to corpora-
tions, reversing a long trend of corporate taxes sup-
plying a decreasing share of federal revenues.
Enactment of the measure was accomplished
through the perseverance of its chief backers in Con-
gress over the objections of many special interests
that would lose the favored status they enjoyed un-
der the current tax code. Although the law was origi-
nally envisioned as a way of eliminating all tax loop-
holes, the tax reform debate almost immediately
focused on which tax loopholes would be preserved
or added under the new law. Despite the nation be-
ing mired in a period of large budget deficits, Rea-
gan refused to support any tax increases, and as a re-
sult, the bill neither raised nor reduced total federal
tax collections over a five-year period after its enact-
ment. Ultimately, that principle allowed the bill’s ad-
herents to turn back costly amendments to restore
tax breaks, because the sponsors of those amend-
ments were not able to produce offsetting revenues.
Impact The Tax Reform Act of 1986 was a consider-
able change from the previous tax code. The fact
that Congress passed serious tax reform at all was re-
markable, considering all the obstacles it faced. Of
all post-World War II-era domestic goals, tax reform
was among the most politically difficult to bring
about. After the 1986 tax reforms were enacted,
however, Congress would go on to make at least four-
teen thousand further changes to the tax code, very
few of which could be considered reform. Many of
the loopholes and exceptions that were excised by
the Tax Reform Act of 1986 were later essentially re-
stored.
Further Reading
Birnbaum, Jeffrey, and Alan Murray.Showdown at
Gucci Gulch. New York: Random House, 1987.
Fisher, Patrick.Congressional Budgeting: A Representa-944 Tax Reform Act of 1986 The Eighties in America