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Social Welfare Expenditures Under Public Programs

Another spurious claim by the anti-Reagan crowd is that President Reagan "savaged" social programs. However, social spending was not slashed during the Reagan Years. President Reagan kept his promise to turn more programs back to the states, as they were prior to the era of "big government".

The table below demonstrates that overall spending on social programs did not decrease anywhere near the amounts put forth by liberals. Instead, social spending leveled off, after increasing for decades.

Source: Information please almanac, 1991 edition. Page 64.

Government Spending on Social Programs at the Federal and State and Local Levels
Federal Year Total social welfare % of GNP % of Government Outlays 1960 24,957 5.0 28.1 1970 77,337 8.1 40.1 1980 303,276 11.5 53.2 1981 344,066 11.6 54.0 1982 367,691 12.0 52.5 1983 398,792 12.0 51.9 1984 420,399 11.3 50.2 1985 452,860 11.5 47.8 1986 472,364 11.3 47.6 1987 499,844 11.0 50.4 1988 532,144 10.9 49.1	Note the growth in spending on social programs, from about one-fourth of total spending at the Federal level to over half by 1980. Social spending decreased as a percentage of government outlays slightly during the Reagan Years, as some programs were transferred back to the states.
State and local Year Total social welfare % of GNP % of Government Outlays 1960 27,337 5.5 60.1 1970 68,519 7.1 64.0 1980 189,720 7.2 66.5 1981 206,774 7.0 63.1 1982 228,178 7.4 62.6 1983 243,285 7.3 60.1 1984 251,569 6.8 58.9 1985 277,540 7.0 59.0 1986 298,158 7.1 58.2 1987 344,601 7.4 59.6 1988 362,622 7.6 60.1	State and local programs rose slightly during the 1960s and 1970s before levelling off at about 60% of government expenditures. Note that after programs were transferred to the states it was up to the states to set spending levels. In addition, programs that were run more efficiently did not need as much spending as previously allocated at the Federal level.
Total Year % of GNP % of Government Outlays 1960 10.5 38.4 1970 15.2 48.2 1980 18.7 57.4 1981 18.6 56.9 1982 19.4 55.7 1983 19.3 54.5 1984 18.2 52.8 1985 18.5 51.2 1986 18.4 47.9 1987 18.4 53.5 1988 18.5 52.8	Overall, spending changed very little. Declining (from the 1980 peak) only about 4% as a share of all government spending, and less than 1% measured against GNP.

Another thing to consider is the effect on our tax levels due to social programs. How much better off could we be if we had 24% more of our income not taken by the government?

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