--- description: George H.W. Bush's quote about no new taxes went down in history. Here's the inside story of how it came to be. title: The Story Behind George H.W. Bush's Famous 'Read My Lips, No New Taxes' Promise image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa6617b4ba323c07/69877789cd68485b60098d85/bush2.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Story Behind George H.W. Bush's Famous 'Read My Lips, No New Taxes' Promise  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Dec 1, 2018 5:32 AM CUT  Then-VP George H. W. Bush, addressing Iowa Law Enforcement Academy graduation ceremony in 1986 Then-VP George H. W. Bush, addressing Iowa Law Enforcement Academy graduation ceremony in 1986Cynthia Johnson—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Dec 1, 2018 5:32 AM CUT Six words. That’s all it took to craft one of the most enduring quotes throughout the career of President George H.W. Bush — who died on Nov. 30, 2018, at the age of 94, just eight months after his wife Barbara Bush**.** “Read my lips: no new taxes.” Spoken by Bush during his 1988 run for the presidency, the quote helped Bush defeat Michael Dukakis, became a cornerstone of his _Saturday Night Live_ persona (embodied by Dana Carvey) and also caught him in a political snare. At a time of major budget deficits and spending needs, Bush was — as many had predicted — unable to get by with cuts alone. Before his first year in office was complete, he had signed into law a [“stealth budget”](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,959176,00.html "undefined") that, while leaving the income tax alone, raised various fees and levies. In 1990, David Letterman was [joking](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,970143,00.html "undefined") that Bush’s catchphrase should be updated to “Read my lips: I was lying”; sure enough, it was clear that the original promise had to go. But how did Bush end up making such a promise in the first place? In covering George H.W. Bush’s January 1989 inauguration, TIME got the backstory: --- > “” --- But, though the promise itself proved impossible to keep, George H.W. Bush’s words themselves have had a longevity far beyond their time. **_Read the full story, on the occasion of Bush’s 1989 inauguration, here in the TIME Vault:_** [“](http://time.com/vault/issue/1989-01-30/page/18/ "undefined")[A New Breeze Is Blowing”](http://time.com/vault/issue/1989-01-30/page/18/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3649511/george-hw-bush-quote-read-my-lips/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3649511/george-hw-bush-quote-read-my-lips/"},"headline":"The Story Behind George H.W. Bush's Famous 'Read My Lips, No New Taxes' Promise","datePublished":"2018-12-01T05:32:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:11:07.041Z","description":"How the \"no new taxes\" line went down in history","url":"https://time.com/3649511/george-hw-bush-quote-read-my-lips/","keywords":["remembrance","George H.W. Bush","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa6617b4ba323c07/69877789cd68485b60098d85/bush2.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa6617b4ba323c07/69877789cd68485b60098d85/bush2.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"George H. W. Bush","caption":"George H. W. Bush","creditText":"Cynthia Johnson—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3649511/george-hw-bush-quote-read-my-lips/","name":"The Story Behind George H.W. Bush's Famous 'Read My Lips, No New Taxes' Promise"}}]}] ```