sold Reagan Writes His Predecessor Looking for Answer “Once and For All” on Tax Relief and Welfare R

In 1966, an area of the United States stretching, comparatively, from Boston to Savannah, and the Atlantic almost to Ohio, was holding an election for Governor. Brown, an experienced and highly effective incumbent, was running against a newcomer to politics, a man who had never even fought before a city council The neophyte, far from disguising his lack of experience, called himself a "citizen politician" and promised, first and foremost, to lower taxes and cut welfare. When the votes were counted, California had a new Governor: Ronald Reagan. Here the newly re-elected Reagan replies to ex-Governor Brown’s letter of congratulation, in which Brown offered to share whatever thoughts he might have growing out of his twenty-three years in government – chief among them, the necessity for a state withholding taxes for wages.

Typed Letter Signed as Governor, on his official letterhead, Sacramento, December 2, 1970. Accompanied by a copy of Brown’s letter to Reagan dated November 11,1970, which Reagan answers here. “…I look forward to touching bases with you and having your counsel on some of the problems which, as you well know, have a way of cropping up beginning first thing in the morning. I am sure we will have withholding of state income tax, and I hope it will come as part of a reform that will bring some relief at the local level to the homeowners. That seems to be one area of our tax program that unduly penalizes a segment of the citizenry. It is frustrating, as I know it must have been for you, to have what you refer to as an investment in the future reduced and delayed because of excessive spending in such areas as welfare. It is for this reason I am determined to see if we can’t find an answer once and for all which will allow us to provide for those with true need, but will at the same time put a limit on the help now being extended to those who cannot be legitimate welfare cases…”