No. 41 · The Presidents
George H.W. Bush
1989-1993
Having won the election partially due to an often repeated promise of “Read my lips: no new taxes,” Bush quickly abandoned this promise and sharply increased federal taxes on gasoline, cigarettes, beer and Medicare premiums, not to mention luxury taxes on certain furs, jewels, cars, boats, private aircraft and the top income tax rates. With this blatant reversal, he lost the trust of the American people.
Lyrics
Capo 6 · G, G/F♯, G/F, Em
read my lips
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
here's the thing about promises
silly us, we expect you to keep them
so when you say 'no new taxes', you can't tax everything and think we'll forget
gasoline, cigarettes, beer, Medicare
furs, jewels, cars, boats, planes and more
read my lips
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
don't lie blatantly
think we're stupidly
gonna forget
'cause when you lost our trust
you lost our trust
read our lips
From the book, published 2009 · song & page updated
Read my lips