KEMP-ROTH ACT: Officially titled the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, this was a cornerstone of economic policy under President Reagan. The three components of this act were: (1) a decrease in individual income taxes, phased in over three years, (2) a decrease in business taxes, primarily through changes in capital depreciation, and (3) the indexing of taxes to inflation, which was implemented in 1985. This act was intended to address the stagflation problems of high unemployment and high inflation that existed during that 1970s and to provide greater incentives for investment. A primary theoretical justification is found in the Laffer curve relation between tax rates and total tax collections.
