Showdown at Gucci Gulch

by Alan Murray

  The Iranian crisis dragged on for months. The president’s inattention to even the most important details of government, which had been evident throughout the tax-reform effort, became the subject of increasing national debate. Chief of Staff Regan was drummed out of office by a torrent of criticism, coming most importantly from the president’s wife, Nancy, who had been skeptical of his appointment from the beginning. And in early April, Deputy Treasury Secretary Darman, discouraged by the administration’s inability to move on any major policy issues, left to become a managing director at an investment banking firm. Tax reform seemed destined to become the last highpoint of the Reagan presidency.

  On a more personal note, Rostenkowski’s daughter, Stacy, received a successful kidney transplant at the end of 1985, which has helped her return to good health.

  APPENDIXES

  APPENDIX A

  The Evolution of Major Provisions Affecting Individuals

  APPENDIX B

  The Evolution of Major Provisions Affecting Businesses

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  JEFFEREY H. BIRNBAUM, a congressional reporter for The Wall Street Journal, covered tax reform’s progress through the House and Senate in 1985 and 1986. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, he served as a reporter for The Miami Herald in 1977 and 1978 before joining The Wall Street Journal, for which he has worked in New York and Washington. Mr. Birnbaum lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with his wife, Deborah, and son, Michael.

  ALAN S. MURRAY, an economics reporter for The Wall Street Journal, covered the Treasury Department during the tax-reform debate. He was a Morehead Scholar at the University of North Carolina, graduating in 1977, and he earned a master’s degree in economics from the London School of Economics. Before joining the Journal’s Washington bureau in 1983, he worked for the Congressional Quarterly in Washington, the Japan Economic Journal in Tokyo, and The Chattanooga Times. He lives in Washington with his wife, Lori.

  First Vintage Books Edition, April 1988

  Copyright © 1987 by Jeffrey H. Birnbaum and Alan S. Murray

  Introduction copyright © 1987 by Albert R. Hunt

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright

  Conventions. Published in the United States by Random

  House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada

  by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

  Originally published, in hardcover, by

  Random House, Inc., in 1987.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Birnbaum, Jeffrey H., 1956–

  Showdown at Gucci Gulch.

  1. Taxation—Law and legislation—United States.

  2. Income tax—Law and legislation—United States.

  I. Murray, Alan S., 1954–. II. Title.

  [KF6289.B57 1988] 343.7304 87-45971

  eISBN: 978-0-307-76174-3

  Gucci is a registered trademark of Gucci Shops, Inc.,

  which has no connection with this book.

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