Dole's Economic Plan Taking Shape

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, July 23) -- Likely GOP nominee Bob Dole's campaign won't exactly confirm it, but a well-placed Republican source in touch with the campaign says the all-important tax issue has been narrowed down to two choices.

Each of them is designed for dramatic effect: Either a 15 percent across-the-board reduction, or a rollback of the tax increases of 1990 and 1993, with the reintroduction of a system based on just two income tax rates -- 15 and 28 percent.

First promised for delivery by the end of this month, then by the start of next month's Republican convention, the Dole plan now seems certain to be a blueprint for tax cuts.

Leading Republican tax-cutting advocate Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.) agreed: "His plan, I believe, will be offering Americans two key ingredients. Number one, a chance for working families to keep more of what they earn. And number two, a chance for job creators to have the incentive to go out and expand the economy and create jobs."

Hoping to nudge Dole in the direction of tax cuts, GOP congressional leaders and other tax cut proponents, led by former Bush Housing Secretary Jack Kemp, met with top Dole aides today in an open meeting with reporters to tout tax cuts as the key to faster economic growth. Joining Kemp were House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, and House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas), among others.

They insisted the economy, aided by dramatic tax cuts, can grow faster than its current 2.2 percent rate. "The president's been running around the country crowing about his growth rate as if it's something to be proud of," House Majority leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) told reporters.

It's a resurrection of 1980s-style, supply-side economics, a theory party standard bearer Dole has never embraced. Lott said the meeting was designed to "make sure we're in synch with him."

But House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) told reporters, "This is a campaign that seems to be without a purpose, and I think members of the party are concerned, and that's why they're getting together."

What are the chances Dole will adopt the 15 percent across-the-board idea? Pretty good, according to former Reagan and Bush administration Treasury official Bruce Bartlett.

"The politics, for one thing, are really very powerful, and I think he really doesn't have very much to lose at this point, being as far behind as he is," Bartlett said. "The conversations I've had with people in the Dole campaign lead me to believe that something like that is a very high probability of being in his economic package."

Gene Randall contributed to this report.

Dole's Economic Plan Taking Shape

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