Politics

Darts For Bush's Tax-Cut Plan

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

December 1, 1999 / 11:40 AM EST / CBS

The politics of election year tax cuts erupted Wednesday inside the ranks of Republicans seeking the presidential nomination. The flash point was the half trillion dollar tax-cut plan being pushed by Texas Gov. George W. Bush. Some of his GOP rivals pushed back hard, as CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer reports:

It's starting to get tense among the Republicans. And if the smiles seemed a teeny bit strained when George W. Bush and Steve Forbes bumped into each other in Iowa, well, no wonder,

Minutes later, as Bush was laying out details of his plan to cut taxes, Forbes unveiled TV ads attacking Bush for saying he might consider raising the eligibility age for Social Security.

"I say it's a betrayal because that money's been promised to you at age 65," Forbes charges in the ad.

Steve Forbes

Bush brushed it off saying Forbes "just likes tearing down people."

As for Bush's tax-cut plan - it was a big one as expected - $483 billion over five years, larger than the tax cut passed by the Republican Congress this year and later vetoed by President Clinton.

Some highlights:

All tax brackets are reduced - the top one shrinks from 39.6 to 33 percent - with the lowest bracket dropping from 15 to10 per cent.
The child tax credit would double to $1,000 a child. Inheritance taxes would be phased out and all of it to be paid for with future government surpluses.

"There are only two things that can be done with a surplus. It can be used by government as the president proposes or it can be used by Americans to save and build and invest," Bush says.

Although Democrats denounced the plan as irresponsible, Bush's proposal follows fairly mainstream Republican thinking and avoids the more exotic flat tax plans advocated by Forbes and some of the other Republicans candidates whose reactions ranged from tepid to dubious.

"I wanna make sure it doesn't take from the Social Security trust fund," said another of Bush's GOP presidential rivals, Arizona Sen. John McCain.

Whatever the case, the plan gives all the Republican candidates something to chew on as they head into Thursday night's debate in New Hampshire, when all of them will be on the same stage for the first time. And it puts the focus on domestic issues where front-runner Bush, especially, seems most comfortable.