Nixon & Ehrlichman on State of the Union and Property taxes

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 4% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Names and numbers are often wrong; speakers are not identified. Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

we can we can take a bunch of odds and ends and string them together but that's

It adds up to a pretty good number.

Oh, we can get it up to a fair number, you bet.

Sure.

That's easy.

That's what we do best around here.

You can't think of anything else that's dramatic or good.

Well, yeah, there are other things.

This happens to have grown up as a symbol in this particular constituency, and that's the reason that they target it.

But you've got the... Oh, for instance...

We've advocated some stuff in HR.

One, we want you to talk about the AIDS, this particular group.

Pension vesting, which is good, but it's not sexy for them because most of them already have their pensions.

Our health initiative helps them, and we'll talk about that.

The substandard nursing home thing will hit in your speech, and we've got some solid accomplishment.

We've closed a bunch of nursing homes and so forth, and you can talk about that

Uh, the, uh, uh,

Lower property taxes, well, that's something that you could refer to in passing as a serious problem. The property tax is a problem, and I have therefore directed the Secretary of the Treasury to make recommendations to me. Make recommendations for a tax reform that will enable us to reduce climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate climate

the adjustment of our taxes and recommendations.

Just not say when, and then do back, say when we're ready in the spring.

So, I want to take a breath and wind up.

and lay it out there.

I think part of the trick in this thing is going to be to make sure that this is identified with you and not with somebody else.

Wilbur Mills or somebody could come along and figure out the same thing we did.

Yeah.

That's right.

And I think you're right.

We started eating it right away.

I agree.

I'm sure it's okay.

It's underway.

All right.

Thomas, you prepared it.

I noticed it.

We were discussing him.

We were saying, oh, I don't use his name.

We were discussing him, and the White House is figuring it out.

Secretary Connolly has been apparently in the study of this.

So I think we're in a position, whether it's right or not, to happily receive the report.

I think this is a good speech, and I think... That's the problem.

And, uh, so...

What are we talking about?

Is there a way to get to that?

Well, you can extend it.

Instead of prescriptions, you can go to eyeglasses, dentures, hearing aids, that kind of thing.

You can eliminate Medicare premium payments for supplementary medical assurance, whatever the hell that is.

There are all kinds of these gimmicks that the lobby, that's the one that's got to be kind of a symbol, and it's one that they're going to go to work on in the Senate Finance Committee.

and uh they'll get long or somebody to go for it you you've read it i'm sure oh absolutely i know i know the abuses believe me i bring this to you not on the basis of conviction but on the basis of politics and just want to ring their bell well i i think this uh i think that the real estate tax saying well i've got a i've got a whole list of stuff here

How about elimination of Medicare premium payments for supplementary medical insurance?

Mills will probably

kick that out in conference, whether we could be for it.

Is that in there already?

Yeah.

Who's put it in there?

It's in the Senate.

I would rather not fool around with that kind of stuff, for fear we'd be throwing something else out of kilter.

I'd rather go for something like

spotlighting the real estate tax and letting you take off on that as a brand new, as a brand new direction.

Talk about how many people over 55 own their own houses and how important it is to keep them in their homes and not send them off to nursing homes.

Tax right out of their houses.

Well, first,

And if he doesn't, then we'll decide on the level we want it at.

You can say it very flexibly.

I think part of it is just talking about their problems, having the president recognize their problems.

That's what they say.

I think they do.

The other thing we're going to have to do here, against my better judgment, is to say to them that we're going to follow up this conference.

For the next year, we're going to have follow-on contacts.

Well, yes, we have.

Unfortunately, we've kept them away from you.

Especially that Daniel.

And you, too, have had ongoing contacts.

I do want you to look there in terms of the whole deal with the West.

That's a hell of an expensive business, and I'm just not sure.

These water projects?

Yeah, I'm not sure.

But I'm a little concerned about the market.

And there's other ones, to be honest, with places and environmentalists and so forth.

I understand that my role is to be the defense on it.

If you come up with something, I mean, we certainly have been in that deal.

Actually, they're yours and all that.

That's the idea.

Oh, yeah, remotely.

But this kind of thing ESOC is getting you to go and stand on the lake.

I'm sure it's a lake superior.

and look at the dirty like, well, yeah, that kind of thing, though, as a campaign event, a MeToo-oriented thing to do.

We can put Julie in a swamp buggy and she can go down to the straight side of the swamp and do that kind of thing.

Yeah, I think we will.

This helps

with people that we don't ordinarily get.

Oh, I don't.

I don't know that.

I don't say they do.

I just want to say this.

Oh, Thursday.

Thursday.

Yeah.

Hey, Jackson took the wind right out of his sails.

He got mentioned down about the ninth curve.

And it'll be very big news for Florida.

And then we can follow up down there with Julie, if she'll do it, because it's nearby where she lives.

And John Whitaker is working now with somebody scheduling her.

Yep.

I know you don't, but I think you're going to have to trust us on some of this.

to put you in as easy a situation as we can, recognizing that it's not wholly natural.

But I'll tell you, we're right at the ragged edge of losing our credibility on this subject.

And it's silly to piss away all our equity at this point, because we've got a lot of it in there.

That's right.

It's like problem solving.

Well, no.

This comes down to a pure question of, it's going to be the law, and you're going to be for it or against it.

Well, sure, that's what I said.

It ends up being the law.

If you want to take a strong symbol and be on the side of dirty water, then you'll be for it.

That's about what I'm saying.

And it just doesn't make any political sense.

Do you know that in the briefing book, the person asked, do you still argue on the other side of that?

On the other side of it?

You criticized the bill.

No, I wasn't asked.

No, but I say, the briefing book told you to criticize the bill.

That's all right.

We're all doing that.

We're doing it out in the open.

The point is that once we've made the price, we're going to be poor on this trade.

No, no, I tell you, your industry guys know what's up here.

They see how much this is going to cost them.

And you just cannot, in good conscience, let this thing slide through the house and say, God, that's wonderful, $385 billion.

It's not going to be far from that.

So that's very, very, very expensive stuff.

What did you do today?

And now, first, you went to the Tetons, and you went out in the lake, and you looked at the mountains and all that.

You know, we got an editorial in the environmental magazine saying, well, the president went to the Tetons, and that's great.

But here's what he didn't do.

And then it goes into all this stuff.

And he played off.

They're insatiable.

There isn't any question about it.

You do not, in our polls, you do not have good identity with the issue.

And the only way we get you good identity with the issue is for you to do some of those things.

And so it'll be hard to do.

Well, I know, but now, look, between now and the 1st of June, you're going to be out of pocket.

Then we've got to figure out how to do things.

Oh yeah, well, that'd be fun.

As long as we're talking about that, I meant to raise this while the others were here.

We've got to have an understanding among the three of us, basically, Toby and John, about how to operate while you're gone.

Well, or out of pocket.

No, I mean like during your preparation time and that kind of thing.

Particularly between now and the 15th of January, there's going to be a lot of things that McCracken and others are going to want you to sign off on and that kind of thing.

I appreciate that.

John Connolly is a new element in some of this.

And I would assume that you would want to... That's what I thought.

That's what I thought.

Okay.

All right.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's Stu.

That's Stu.

He's more assertive.

He will take position.

Well, that's fine.

We'll run it by hand.

I just felt like today, you know, forgetting to track myself and we just have to do a better job on that.

And frankly, the reason I needed this meeting today was to force a meeting with him on this value added.

He'd had it for 10 days.

Oh, no question I had it.

No question.

Great.

Would you be very comfortable?

All right.

Have a good trip.

But it's okay.

We'll see you later.

Nixon & Ehrlichman on State of the Union and Property taxes

AI Summary

Audio

Transcript (AI-generated)

NARA Description

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Also recorded on November 24, 1971

Cite this conversation