Agreed. But I think (and this is my opinion) he tried to limit its growth and was sincere in his beliefs toward that end. It would be interesting to see what could have been done if Reagan and the 1994 GOP House and Senate were all together.
But what do do now? Money has somehow got to be shut off flowing to government. Personally, I think if withholding were done away with, things would work out pretty damn quick.
If I am not mistaken, when he was governor of California, Reagan eliminated (or proposed the elimination of) the withholding of state income taxes so as to demonstrate to people how much their state government was costing them.
I believe Prop. 13 followed in short order.