Real Plans for Real People
GORE RHETORIC: I have led the way over the last eight years to make the federal government smaller.
FACTS:
* "But [Paul Light, Director of Government Studies at the Brookings Institution] disagrees with Gore's claims that his initiative to reinvent government enabled the Clinton administration to scale back
the government to its smallest size since the 1960s. The reduction in the federal work force came largely as a result of the end of the Cold War, with dramatic cuts in the military, Light says. The number of
uniformed military personnel fell from 2.11 million in 1990 to 1.44 million last year." (Washington Post, 9/28/00)
GORE RHETORIC: I would reform the death tax so it wouldn't hurt farmers.
FACTS:
Gore Claims He's For Providing Death Tax Relief But His Plan Does Not Repeal The Penalty.
"As for estate tax relief, the Gore plan is so complicated and restrictive that less than 1% of current heirs would qualify. Essentially, the estate has to qualify as a small business in which the
decedent has to have 'materially participated' in the business in five out of eight years preceding death, and the beneficiary must 'materially participate' in the business five out of eight years following the
owner's death for the next 10 years or the IRS could demand tax payment."
("Truth on Tax Cuts," The Wall Street Journal, September 5, 2000)
Clinton/Gore have vetoed death tax relief three times:
1) On August 31, 2000, the Clinton/Gore Administration vetoed H.R. 8,the Death Tax Elimination Act.
2) On September 23, 1999, The Clinton/Gore Administration Vetoed H.R.
2488, a Tax Bill That Included a Provision To Eliminate The Death Tax.
3) In 1995, The Clinton/Gore Administration Vetoed H.R. 2491, A Bill Containing Death Tax Relief (the bill raised the amount of the death tax exemption from $600,000 to $750,000 and gave farmers and small
businesses an even bigger exemption).
In 1993, the Clinton/Gore Administration even increased the death tax,retroactively:
In their 1993 Economic Plan, Clinton/Gore included "seven increases on the death tax" and made permanent the top rates of 53 percent for estates between $2.5 and $3 million and 55 percent for estates over $3 million. These rates were made retroactive to January 1, 1993.
Therefore, requiring those who have already died to pay their taxes.(Lawrence Kudlow, "Tax Man; An Al Gore Vulnerability," National Review, April 19, 1999; CQ Almanac, 1993, p. 130)
GORE RHETORIC: We need to clean up the entertainment industry.
FACTS:
* Gore Takes In $13.6 Million in Hollywood Cash During this year's election cycle, Al Gore and the Democrat National Committee have raised $13.6 million from the television, music and movie industries.
(Center for Responsive Politics, www.opensecrets.org, 9/11/00)
* Gore's Tough Stance on Hollywood is mere "nudging" According to the AP, "A week after threatening Hollywood with sanctions for marketing violence to kids, Vice President Al Gore and Sen. Joseph Lieberman
softened their tone by telling leaders of the entertainment industry that, 'We will nudge you but we will never become censors.'"
GORE RHETORIC: We must pass the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Bill to restore young people's faith in politics.
FACTS:
Governor Bush has laid out a comprehensive plan for campaign finance reform, including banning all corporate and union soft money and protecting individual union members from have their money spent on
politics without their permission.
* Governor Bush believes democracy is about individuals, and he wants to protect and elevate their rights to participate in the political process.
* Indexed for inflation, the individual contribution limits of $1000 are worth less than a third of what they were when they were created in 1974.
* Combined with the rising costs of media, that's much of what's forcing politicians to spend more and more time raising money and to rely more and more on soft money and third-party ads.
* Raising the limits and indexing them to inflation puts individuals back in control.
Governor Bush looks forward to working with Senators McCain and Feingold after his election to pass meaningful campaign finance reforms including a ban on corporate and union soft money. He also will preside over an Administration that enforces those new laws with integrity.
GORE RHETORIC: A middle-class taxpayer would get tax relief under my plan.
FACTS:
* Gore's targeted tax plan denies relief to 50 million taxpayers. Under the Gore plan, 50 million people - representing half of all federal income taxpayers - are denied any relief from his targeted cuts. For example, married couples who own a home and take a mortgage deduction are denied relief under Gore's plan to "fix" the marriage penalty.
"What Mr. Gore does not say is that his $500 billion tax relief plan would not help all middle-class families. It is intended to give tax relief for certain social goals; to benefit, a family must meet
certain criteria, like having a parent in long-term care or a child in college or a child in day care." -- NYT, 9/28/00
* The Bush plan takes 6 million low-income families off the income tax rolls. Under the current tax code, a single mother with 2 kids starts paying income taxes at $21,300. Under the Bush code, she would start paying taxes at $31,300
* Independent analysis finds that families benefit more under Bush plan. Deloitte & Touche, a leading independent accounting, tax, and consulting firm, released an analysis that concludes that middle-income
families do better with the Bush plan. The study found that a family of four earning $50,000 will save $1,900 under Governor Bush's plan but only $218 dollars under Al Gore's plan - that is 8 times more savings through Governor Bush's plan. (Deloitte & Touche, September 15, 2000)
GORE RHETORIC: I will keep my campaign promises just like Bill Clinton and I did in 1992.
FACTS:
Gore Promises Today: "Al Gore is proposing a comprehensive tax plan with more than $500 billion in targeted tax relief for working families."
(Gore-Lieberman campaign website)
Gore Promised Then: "The Clinton/Gore Plan includes $104 billion in tax cuts over four years for the middle class, the working poor, and corporations that make smart investments to create jobs." (Clinton-Gore
release, 10/19/92)
Gore's Record: Shortly after taking office, Al Gore cast the tie breaking vote on the largest tax increase in U.S. history that included $115 billion in higher personal income taxes, $31 billion in higher gasoline taxes, $25 billion in higher taxes on Social Security benefits, and $29 billion in more Medicare taxes. (Congressional Budget Office)
GORE RHETORIC: Governor Bush would take $1 trillion out of the Social Security Trust Fund.
FACTS:
* Governor Bush supports lock-boxing $2.4 trillion to save and strengthen Social Security.
* Governor Bush's Social Security Plan Gets High Marks. A study by Economic Security 2000 (ES 2000), a non-partisan organization, found that Governor Bush's plan helps ensure Social Security's long-term
solvency. "By investing $80 billion per year in personal retirement accounts, Bush is adding a higher rate of return to generate more money to help make Social Security solvent," said the study.
* The ES 2000 study also found that Gore's Social Security plan was flawed and would lead to a huge increase in the debt. "Gore's accounting defies credibility. From 2015 to 2037, there's a missing
$4.3 trillion in the Social Security Trust Fund, because the money has been spent and is a debt, an IOU. Then, from 2038 to 2054, there's a missing $6.069 trillion," said the study.
* Gore does not save Social Security. "Gore would leave the basic structure of Social Security untouched, essentially gambling that future generations would be able to pay the bills when the baby-boom generation begins to retire in full force." (Washington Post, 6/19/00)
* GAO Comptroller David Walker said the Clinton-Gore approach was "simply a grant of future general revenues to Social Security." (David Walker, GAO, Testimony on the President's Social Security proposal
before the House Committee on Ways and Means, November 9, 1999)
* According to Chuck Blahous, Executive Director of the Alliance for Worker Retirement Security, "the Gore plan would permanently borrow and never repay from general revenues an astounding $46 trillion over
2037 to 2054."
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