Domestic policy of the Ronald Reagan administration

This article is part of a series about Ronald Reagan
Personal life Filmography Bibliography Death Residences Birthplace of Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home Rancho del Cielo 668 St. Cloud Road Speeches A Time for Choosing States' rights Evil Empire Tear down this wall! 33rd Governor of California Elections 1966 1970 Governorship 1969 People's Park protest 40th President of the United States Presidency timeline Transition Inaugurations Polls Scandals Tenure Assassination attempt Invasion of Grenada Bombing of Libya Iran–Contra affair AIDS Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty Policies Domestic Reaganomics Foreign Reagan Doctrine international trips Judicial appointments Supreme Court candidates O'Connor Rehnquist Scalia Bork Ginsburg Kennedy Presidential campaigns 1968 primaries convention 1976 primaries convention 1980 election primaries convention debates 1984 election primaries convention debates Legacy Library Accolades Eponyms Depictions music
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This article discusses the domestic policy of the Ronald Reagan administration from 1981 to 1989. Reagan's policies stressed conservative economic values, starting with his implementation of supply-side economic policies, dubbed as "Reaganomics" by both supporters and detracters. His policies also included the largest tax cut in American history as well as increased defense spending as part of his Soviet strategy. However, he significantly raised (non-income) taxes four times due to economic conditions and reforms, but the tax reforms instituted during presidency brought top marginal rates to their lowest levels since 1931, such that by 1988, the top US marginal tax rate was 28%.^[1][2]

Notable events included his firing of nearly 12,000 striking air traffic control workers and appointing the first woman to the Supreme Court bench, Sandra Day O'Connor. He believed in federalism and free markets, passed policies to encourage development of private business, and routinely criticized and defunded the public sector. Despite his support for limited government, he greatly accelerated the nation's War on Drugs.^[3]