Nixon, Haldeman & Connally on International Monetary Fund and Tax reform

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Now, the Schultz thing is, and this, Schultz would like you to raise this question with Kant.

Didn't Henry Rachel do it?

There's Schultz.

Schultz is a good idea.

Well, Schultz says Rogers is a good idea.

Except for the last paragraph, for example.

Rogers still wants you to make a speech, though.

Me to make a speech, but I want Schultz to make a speech.

Well, Schultz is going to make a speech anyway.

The last thing they suggest you say is that I've outlined the broadest of guidelines.

I've asked Secretary of Treasury to label for you the specifics of a U.S. proposal.

That's what Rogers does.

Rogers doesn't.

That's my point.

Rogers wants me to make this speech, but he doesn't want me to make the proposal.

He doesn't want Schultz to make the proposal.

That's right.

The economy does.

That's the key word I'm going to get to.

But that's good.

So that's what's assured now.

It's a paper.

It's points to be covered in a speech.

It's got to be rewritten as a speech.

Oh, God, I'm moving.

I've got to write it.

I've got to get somebody.

You don't think South Park can do that?

Oh, you just give us a second.

It seems to me that he's the one who understands it.

He understands it.

He should talk.

He should always work with these people.

Don't choose.

So I guess you do need to see Shelton Center.

You know, Colson was talking about, of course, whatever you want.

Well, we got to keep on talking.

If anything, he's out there responsible.

But no, not really.

It's the way I want it.

It was a good, hard-hitting talk, straight-on speech.

Jesus, why did they pick that kind of thing?

for one substantive matter.

I understand that you believe I should make them speak to the IMF, and you do believe that Schultz should make a proposal.

That's on both lines.

That's good.

All right, I'm going to go forward.

I don't know.

On the proposal, Roger raised the question about the spine.

There's two concretes.

I'm going to raise all the international money right there.

It was good for Schultz to do it, I think.

Now, do you think, as he talked to you about what the proposal is... Basically, basically, what I understand is that...

He did.

Sorry about that.

I don't want you to bother him.

No, I don't know.

I spent almost two hours with him yesterday.

All right, all right.

It's a complicated thing.

Don't tell me about it.

I don't want to know about it.

Don't tell me.

I think it's about that.

I do have one very strong feeling that I told him that I want to tell both of y'all

to speak to these representatives of our nation.

This gives you an incredibly good forum to talk about what you're going to hear.

You can say to the world through this forum, we're fighting inflation.

We're going to keep fighting inflation.

We're increasing our productivity.

We're going to continue to increase our productivity.

We're going to insist.

We're going to provide the leadership, our share of the leadership, for reforming the structure so that we can all live, so that we can have

But just to give you a hell of a picture, that's all in the outline.

All right.

How does this make a shared reaction?

You seem to have probably announced in your staff meeting that the Secretary's staff communications have probably probably got the list.

I put it out there.

Oh, no, no, no.

I wanted to ask you whether I had the members of his staff.

See, that's because, you see, we're going to follow this up on the trip a little later.

What are we talking about?

Well, they gave us a report on the very progress that's being made on the democracies.

That's fine.

How's that?

Fair enough?

I'll keep the meat here, Rob.

We might need it again.

Oh, but I just don't think you're that vulnerable yet.

You're not that vulnerable.

Price control from an economic condition, because he's hitting prices, and he's hitting well some, but he's not selling anything right now.

And so you don't want to start selling specifics right now.

What you want to sell affirmatively is faith, is faithfulship, is responsibility, is decency.

According to this Harris poll, that's all right there.

All we got to do is hang on to it.

That's all.

It isn't.

Sounds like Harris.

It's there.

We got it.

It's good that we don't get thrown into the Harris profile.

So let's don't lose that thing.

Because the minute you start running off on specific issues,

who did it i did let's be specific they won't talk about specifics

I've taken 9.5 million people off the tax roll since I've been president, the poor people of this country.

I have reduced personal income taxes by $19.5 billion since I've been president.

That's being specific.

We have reduced excise taxes that the poor people of this country pay along with everyone else, $3.5 billion since I've been president.

We've raised corporate taxes, $4.5 billion since I've been president.

I said we're going to reduce property taxes.

I have two reform bills.

I've had two reform bills, 1969 and 1971.

We're sweeping tax reforms in this century since the passage of the income tax measures itself in 1930.

And all this does is give you an opportunity to say, sure, I'm not through with it.

We're not through.

But when my opponent tells you that he's going to give you another $140 million worth of government services without any new taxes, he's leading you down a blind alley.

You can't get that kind of money except imposing it upon the average working man in this country, because that's where the tax comes from.

And I'm not for it.

I want to reduce taxes.

I've already done it.

I want to do it some more, but I've got to reduce spending first.

And we're sure we're going to have tax reform.

But it's going to be responsible tax reform.

It's not going to be political tax reform that really says, he wants political increases so he can spend more money because he don't think you've got such enough spending on him.

That'd be my approach to the tax office.

That's all you need.

You get a chance to drive home again the $22 billion tax reductions, the fact you've increased tax on the corporation.

And you can't go out and defend it now.

six cases of people who have made over $200,000 out of any taxes.

You can't do that.

If you start talking about corporations, let's get Bill Sapphire or somebody, I told George Shultz as Justice, get you a dozen cases of these tax perversions.

Or if you really want to later on, you can talk about it.

You can talk about casualty lawsuits and say, that's a tax perversion.

But if your home burns down, if you're out in Keokuk Island, if your home burns down, I think you

So you build it back up.

And just say, that's a tax preference.

But I think it ought to be a better thing.

I'm not changing it.

Take the city, the city bond issue.

Just say, have you all want to pay your city to pay 9% interest?

To build your service, your streets, and raise your taxes to pay for it?

Well, it's all right.

I'm not for it.

My point is, that's what he wants you to do.

But that's one of these differences he's talking about.

Now, the truth of the matter is that this great tax reform bill he's got is worn over a hatch that Stanley Suri concocted and put on the stove and served up to President Johnson.

And he wouldn't even submit it to the Congress, and they leaked it to the Congress.

It was all considered the 1969 tax reform bill, and the Congress has gone over every bit of it and rejected 95% of it.

And nobody knows this but you two, two other people, that sort of say something.

No, but Gene McCartney dislikes McGovern very much.

He's very mischievous with McGovern.

He would be interested in some government official.

See, he would be interested.

I don't think so.

He's more interested in this communications.

You've got a new man, John Macy's leader.

Yeah, public broadcasting.

Public broadcasting.

But he'd like to do something of that sort.

Those are the two things he mentioned.

You may not want to give him either.

He said that...

No, but he's smart.

He's an interesting guy.

Oh, sure.

Dufferin's a dumb man.

Isn't that the thing?

Well, McCarthy's smart.

He's just a professor.

That's all.

Yeah.

He's a poet.

That's what he has to describe.

Now, this is something that he wants handled extremely discreetly.

No, that's not what I mean.

All right, I got the job, the mother's job.

Now, Macy, I know this is probably the broadcaster's job, and he, by the 15th of October, I think, the current mother's job, before they left, it's your MCC base.

that goddamn Johnson.

I'd trade Johnson for McCarthy any day of the week.

I respect Johnson.

He's an idiot.

He's awful.

He's terrible.

McCarthy, you need a Democrat.

McCarthy's a responsible, decent man.

That sort of thing.

Check the SDC, Bob.

It's a great Democrat.

a provocation job.

There's a commitment made there.

Well, he didn't know it.

Well, and he had a particular job.

Maybe he tried to take out permission for it.

A lot of money for it doesn't pay.

He wants to pay a job.

Oh, sure.

He'll have to pay a job because he has really nothing to do.

Now, he told us, verified to Leonard Marks,

He wouldn't want to be an ambassador.

I don't know that he could afford it.

Gosh, John, that doesn't take money anymore.

Well, it might.

It does take a lot of money.

No, but I mean, except for the big folks.

Except for the big folks there who do not have that money.

And they do very well.

They come out pretty well.

You have servants, you have everything else.

You might do that.

I'll talk to you.

No, wait a minute.

We'll see, Mary.

No, I'm out.

That would be the clinic, of course.

Let's go to the SEC when we go here.

Or there might be another board.

He likes communications.

All right.

Get to work on it.

Check with Garmin as to something there.

We might have something in the arts, which would be good.

We have $40 million remaining on that.

And he's good at this.

He's good at this.

I think in hearing of this,

It's a public endorsement.

I don't need to buy it in the car.

Oh, listen, you might not want it, but... Oh, no, we wouldn't.

You want any of it.

The other girl said she was here, sir.

Would you speak to her, sir?

I'll speak to her.

That wasn't an answer.

You know, the farmer types, the rural types, first of all, farmers are growing up.

We had a Japanese grand deal.

We had a Russian grand deal.

We're even going to sell some of the Chinese.

There's going to be a Russian trade agreement.

It's going to be before the election.

A damn good one.

Great one.

That's really what we have to do.

This has got to be a conference.

We're going to have to go fight about it.

It's already worked out.

We're going to have one hell of a deal announced by the 15th of October.

Thank you.

John, you're not going to get that.

The little trees here are not expensive.

They were brought from China.

He's 30 years older, so he can't come to our tree.

That's a print of the White House done by a British person behind the river, so I'm closer to that, of course, before the British were put off back about 100 years ago, or before the Civil War.

Before the Civil War, that's a British idea.

Well, when you built your library, it was just because it's on a scale.

The only thing is the LBJ logic is that.

I saw it.

I went up to him.

He had everything done.

But he had it down to a two-thirds scale.

It was an afterthought.

You see, I was on his committee.

And only at the last minute, after the contracts had been left, the blueprint's pretty well far down, if you think about it.

And it is a great disappointment because it's such a beautiful office.

Well, actually, you know, we take the five flags, because they look cramped in that office here to the right.

You know, we had the...

Nixon, Haldeman & Connally on International Monetary Fund and Tax reform

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Nixon Library Finding Aid

Also recorded on September 6, 1972

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