Dole's Economic Plan Due Early Next Week

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, July 31) -- Within days, voters should have a new yardstick to measure what a Robert Dole presidency might mean to their pocketbooks.

The Republican presidential candidate is finishing his long-awaited economic stimulus and tax-cut plan and expects to make it public early next week.

The Dole campaign is closely guarding the details, but the plan is expected to contain either an across-the-board tax cut of roughly 15 percent, or a repeal of some tax hikes passed since 1990.

The campaign considers the economic plan's release as a key moment in Dole's White House bid, almost as important as his selection of a running mate. That, too, is expected soon -- most likely the weekend before the Republican National Convention opens in San Diego on Aug. 12.

"Starting in San Diego, and perhaps before, with the announcement of our economic package, you will understand precisely where I'm coming from, what I believe in, and what I will pursue as the president of the United States," Dole told a GOP luncheon in California earlier this week.

On the way back from the West Coast, Dole met with John Taylor, his economic adviser and a Stanford University professor, for more than three hours to work on the plan.

While President Bill Clinton has bragged about his administration's record in creating jobs, Republicans say the U.S. growth rate under Clinton has been anemic.

For Dole, a longtime deficit hawk, it's a political risk to promote a tax cut that could add to the federal budget woes. He has said, though, the plan will include a tax cut and ways to make up for the lost revenue.

The plan also will embrace a balanced budget by 2002 and a scaling back of the Internal Revenue Service. Dole says he wants a "flatter, simpler, fairer (income) tax."

Dole's Economic Plan Due Early Next Week

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