Almost $17 billion in income tax cuts will go to individuals.  Ninety-six percent of all American taxpayers will see their taxes go down.  For a typical family of four, this means an annual saving of more than $250 a year, or a tax reduction of about 20 percent.  A further $2 billion cut in excise taxes will give more relief and also contribute directly to lowering the rate of inflation.

And we will also provide strong additional incentives for business investment and growth through substantial cuts in the corporate tax rates and improvement in the investment tax credit.

Now, these tax proposals will increase opportunity everywhere in the Nation.  But additional jobs for the disadvantaged deserve special attention.

We’ve already passed laws to assure equal access to the voting booth and to restaurants and to schools, to housing, and laws to permit access to jobs.  But job opportunity, the chance to earn a decent living, is also a basic human right, which we cannot and will not ignore.

A major priority for our Nation is the final elimination of the barriers that restrict the opportunities available to women and also to black people and Hispanics and other minorities.  We’ve come a long way toward that goal.  But there is still much to do.  What we inherited from the past must not be permitted to shackle us in the future.

I’ll be asking you for a substantial increase in funds for public jobs for our young people, and I also am recommending that the Congress continue the public service employment programs at more than twice the level of a year ago.  When welfare reform is completed, we will have more than a million additional jobs so that those on welfare who are able to work can work.

However, again, we know that in our free society, private business is still the best source of new jobs.  Therefore, I will propose a new program to encourage businesses to hire young and disadvantaged Americans.  These young people only need skills and a chance in order to take their place in our economic system.  Let’s give them the chance they need.  A major step in the right direction would be the early passage of a greatly improved Humphrey-Hawkins bill.

My budget for 1979 addresses these national needs, but it is lean and tight.  I have cut waste wherever possible.

I am proposing an increase of less than 2 percent after adjusting for inflation, the smallest increase in the Federal budget in 4 years.

Lately, Federal spending has taken a steadily increasing portion of what Americans produce.  Our new budget reverses that trend, and later I hope to bring the Government’s toll down even further.  And with your help, we’ll do that.

In time of high employment and a strong economy, deficit spending should not be a feature of our budget.  As the economy continues to gain strength and as our unemployment rates continue to fall, revenues will grow.  With careful planning, efficient management, and proper restraint on spending, we can move rapidly toward a balanced budget, and we will.