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Dole calls for tax cuts
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August 5, 1996: 4:27 p.m. ET
GOP hopeful proposes 15 percent cut in all personal-income taxes
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) -- Hoping to ignite his campaign, Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole unveiled an eagerly awaited economic plan Monday, calling for a 15-percent cut in all Americans' income taxes.
"I am announcing my economic program for America's renewal -- a program that will return economic growth, rising living standards and prosperity for all Americans to the center of our policy," Dole said in a speech to a Chicago business group.
The presumptive Republican nominee's plan called for not only a15 percent across-the-board tax cut, but also lower capital-gains taxes and a $500 per child tax credit for families.
Dole also promised to make charges to individual retirement accounts (IRAs) while overhauling the current tax system and limiting the Internal Revenue Service's powers. (304K WAV) or (304K AIFF)
In all, the proposal calls for $548 billion in tax cuts over a six-year period.
The largest move would involve the 15-percent cut in personal-income taxes, phased in at 5 percent per year for three years.
To pay for the plan, Dole proposed such things as selling $40 billion of government assets and saving $60 billion through a 10 percent cut in administrative costs for all non-defense discretionary federal programs.
In keeping with the Olympic spirit that has prevailed in the past two weeks, Dole said his new economic plan would enable Americans to go for the gold. (91K WAV) or (91K AIFF)
Advisers said that after months of speculation and political maneuvering, Dole had developed the broad economic platform he needs to close his double-digit gap with President Clinton in voter-preference polls.
However, Monday's plan embraced a theory that Dole had resisted in the past, so-called "supply-side economics."
"Supply-side economics" holds that tax cuts pay for themselves by stimulating economic growth, which, in turn, generates fresh tax revenues.
Previously, Dole had opposed such a theory for fear that lower tax rates might inflate the already mammoth federal budget deficit.
But advisers spent weeks trying to convince Dole to adopt a plan as dramatic as his unexpected departure from the U.S. Senate earlier this year.
Originally, Dole advisers had wanted him to propose a 40 percent tax cut -- an idea Democrats ridiculed.
Clinton and other Democrats wasted no time Monday knocking what Dole ended up proposing, likening his plan to former President Ronald Reagan's 1980s economic strategy.
In Washington, Clinton told reporters: "I am unalterably opposed to going back to the mistake we made before -- having big tax cuts that are not paid for. It will balloon the deficit, raise interest rates and weaken the economy."
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle called Dole's plan "a revisit back to the early 1980s -- $3 trillion of debt later."
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