As the caucus and primary season nears, the Democratic presidential candidates have been bickering over tax cuts, with Sens. Joe Lieberman and John Kerry arguing that their opponents’ plan to repeal all of President Bush’s tax cuts amounts to a tax increase.
“I strongly disagree with anyone who would raise taxes on the middle class,” said Mr. Kerry on Wednesday. “[Former Vermont Gov.] Howard Dean and [Rep.] Dick Gephardt want to increase their taxes. Their plan would raise taxes $2,000 for a typical family with two kids.” Mr. Kerry is running a television ad in Iowa highlighting this position.
Mr. Lieberman says his plan would provide a tax cut for 98 percent of taxpayers while “making big companies and the wealthiest pay more.” In a speech Wednesday, he defended his decision not to repeal all the Bush tax cuts.
“I opposed George Bush’s tax cuts as huge giveaways to the special interests that we could not afford,” he said. “But I also oppose indiscriminately raising taxes on the hard-working middle class.” Mr. Lieberman added that he “cannot understand” how Mr. Dean or others could think raising taxes on the middle class will help.
Mr. Bush’s tax cuts over the past few years amount to roughly $1.8 trillion in tax relief, according to the House Ways and Means Committee. Mr. Lieberman of Connecticut and Mr. Kerry of Massachusetts only want to repeal some of it — portions they say benefit the wealthy. They say repealing other portions — such as the increased child tax credit and reduced marriage penalty tax — will result in a painful tax increase for the middle class.
“They’re finally agreeing with the Republican ideal that if you take away a tax cut, you’re raising someone’s taxes. It’s something they didn’t agree with last year,” said Don Stewart, spokesman for Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican and budget committee member.
Meanwhile, Mr. Bush yesterday urged Congress to make his tax relief permanent; otherwise, it will expire in coming years and taxes will go up.
“We can continue on the path to prosperity and new jobs … or we can reverse the course by raising taxes on hard-working Americans,” Mr. Bush said in his weekly radio address. “Tax relief has got this economy going again, and tax relief will keep it moving forward.”
Mr. Stewart said that when Republicans wanted to make the Bush tax cuts permanent last year the Democrats objected and disagreed heartily with Republicans’ assertion that phasing out the tax cuts would raise taxes.
“I’m pleased that they’ve seen the light,” he said of Mr. Kerry and Mr. Lieberman. “It sounds like they’re going to fight to keep the tax cut that helped the economy.”
Mr. Dean and Mr. Gephardt want to repeal Mr. Bush’s tax cuts as part of their overall economic plan.
Mr. Gephardt, of Missouri, who would use the money from repealing the Bush tax cuts to provide health care, said preserving part of the Bush tax cuts is wrong because “retaining a large part of a failure is still a failure.”
In a Jan. 4 debate, Mr. Dean said that “most middle-class people in this country are worse off because of President Bush’s so-called tax cut than they are better off.”
But Mr. Kerry said on Wednesday that Dean aides were urging their boss to soften his tax position, and some news reports last week indicated Mr. Dean may propose additional plans to help the middle class.
Stephen Moore, president of the pro-tax-cut Club for Growth, said when each of the Democratic candidates’ economic plans is analyzed, “every one of the major contenders wants to raise taxes.” And Dan Clifton, federal-affairs manager at Americans for Tax Reform, said all the Democrats are in a “quandary” over tax reform because repealing any of the tax cuts is “going to amount to raising taxes and … nobody’s going to vote for someone who says they want a tax increase.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Dean continues to hold a lead over his competitors a week before the Jan. 19 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, according to polls released yesterday.
A Los Angeles Times poll of likely Iowa caucus participants shows Mr. Dean at 30 percent, Mr. Gephardt at 23 percent and Mr. Kerry at 18 percent. In New Hampshire, Mr. Dean has 34 percent support, Wesley Clark has 14 percent and Mr. Kerry has 13 percent, according to a Research 2000 poll for the Concord Monitor.
c This story is based in part on wire service reports.
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