Clinton Assails GOP Tax Plan

JACKSON, Wyoming (AllPolitics, Aug. 17) -- President Clinton ripped the GOP's economic plan Saturday, saying the country couldn't afford the proposed $550 billion tax cut, and called for a more modest but affordable cut.

My tax cut is limited in size," Clinton said in his weekly radio address. "It's worth $110 billion. Theirs is five times as much ... We can afford ours. We can't afford theirs." (218K WAV sound)

Clinton said the GOP plan featured "indiscriminate tax cuts regardless of the cost," and claimed some middle class families would get a bigger cut under his plan.

The president's tax cut proposals are particularly designed to support higher education. The cuts -- including up to $10,000 a year tax credit for college tuition and a $500-per-child credit for child care -- will be part of an overall balanced budget plan. (258K WAV sound)

"Our opponents haven't said how they'll pay for their tax cut yet," Clinton said. "If they don't pay for it, their plan would balloon the deficit."

But if they do, the president warned, the costs would be "bigger cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, education and the environment."

Clinton also touted the work his administration has done since he took office in 1993.

"The budget deficit is now the smallest it's been since 1981, and our economy has created over 10 million new jobs," he said. "As even our opponents have acknowledged, our economy is the soundest it's been in a generation."

Clinton did not mention Bob Dole, the GOP's presidential candidate, by name during his address. Dole unveiled the GOP plan earlier this month.

President Clinton's weekly radio address - August 17, 1996

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Clinton Assails GOP Tax Plan

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