UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday, February 2, 1996
11A
Forbes gaining on Dole in New Hampshire polls
The Associated Press
Now the income tax we use now or proposed by some Republicans:
INCOME TAX
Income tax and flat tax compared If you have tax to use now compares to the flat tax being
Five tax brackets*
NASHUA, N.H. — Eager to halt Steve Forbes' New Hampshire surge, Bob Dole labeled his rival's flat tax plan "snake oil" yesterday and enlisted the state's popular GOP governor for a TV ad warning Forbes would raise middle-class taxes.
Ending a two-day New Hampshire swing. Dole tried to project a picture
Taxable income
of confidence,
shrugging off a
new poll showing
him trailing
Forbes and calmly predicting victory. "If I worried about every poll, I'd probably have an Excedrin headache." Dolesa said.
Rate Income range
15% Up to $39,000
28% $39,001,$49,250
31% $49,251,$43,600
36% $143,601,$256,500
39.6% $256,501 and up
Taxable income Salary, wages, pension
EXHIBIT INCOME Salary, wages, pension, interest, dividends, capital gains, other income
Self, spouse, dependents
Exceptions Large standard deduction exempts many people from paying tax; dependent deductions
Exemptions
Other deductions
Mortgage interest, charitable donations, state and local taxes,
other deductions
One tax bracket
17%**
Other deductions None
Credits
Bob Dole
Credit
Child care, elderly and disabled,
low-income wage earner, other
credits
FLAT
Credits None
But the decision to put Gov. Steve Merrill's prestige on the line in the effort to blunt Forbes reflected the volatility of the GOP race just 18 days before New Hampshire's leadoff presidential primary.
"The Steve Forbes income tax plan increases the deficit and raises our taxes," Merrill says in a 30-second spot that began airing yesterday.
credits
*1995 rates, taxable income for a married couple filing jointly
***Fifth tax rate proposed by House Majority Leader Dick Armen, R-Taxen; Treasury estimate is 21% rate needed to raise same revenue as current income tax
Merrill says the average New Hampshire household would pay $2,000 more in federal taxes under the Forbes plan because it would end deductions for mortgage interest and local property taxes.
Dole and Merrill weren't the only ones targeting Forbes' 17 percent flat tax.
Knight-Ridder Tribune
In Iowa, former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander said the Forbes plan would raise middle-class taxes and suggested it would hurt local education financing because property values would plummet and most school money comes from property taxes.
Forbes, also in Iowa, brushed aside the criticism as sour grapes from professional politicians — "all those who have a vested interest in perpetuating this monstrous status quo."
"It makes about as much sense as something out of the Wizard of Oz," Alexander said.
Sending Merrill into battle against Forbes is part of a calculated Dole campaign effort to leave sharp attacks on Forbes to surrogate or other candidates and have Dole offer a more upbeat message focused on contrasts with President Clinton.
He mostly stuck to that script during a discussion at a Nashua car dealership yesterday, but he used a question about the flat tax to take issue with Forbes' claim that everyone gets a tax cut under his plan.
By exempting investment income from taxes and granting generous exemptions to lower-income families, Dole said, a greater tax burden would fall on the middle class.
"There may be some snake oil here somewhere," he said.
Dole aides expressed confidence that they still had time to stall the Forbes effort before primary day. They said if nothing else, polls showing a tighter race would bring Forbes increased scrutiny.
But even many Dole backers in the state were marveling at the chaos Forbes has brought to the race and said the past offered few clues on how to combat a candidate who is willing to spend millions of his personal fortune while Dole and others adhere to spending limits.
"He's anew face, and he's got a lot of money," said former Gov. Hugh Gregg, a Dole backer. "That's a very powerful mix."
A WBZ-TV/Boston Globe poll showing Forbes leading Dole conflicted with Dole campaign polling showing the senator clinging to a narrow — but shrinking — lead in New Hampshire. Forbes' own polling shows the race a statistical dead heat. Other public polls also have offered a confusing picture of the race.
And despite Forbes' surge, there was data in the new survey suggesting his vulnerabilities: Support for the flat tax fell to 37 percent, down from 54 percent three weeks ago. In addition, 58 percent of respondents said the multimillionaire should release his tax returns and even 69 percent of Forbes' supporters said they needed to know more about his views.
There was sobering data for Dole, too, underscoring how many of the attributes that for months have served as his strengths now are potential weaknesses.
Dole's decades of Washington experience have been attacked by Forbes as evidence he is an insider with "Washington values." The poll found nearly four in 10 of those who said they planned to vote for Forbes said their biggest reason was that he was not a politician.
At the same time, 51 percent of the 400 respondents said they disapproved of Dole's handling, as Senate majority leader, in the budget showdown with Clinton.
"Dole's biggest burden is somehow convincing people unhappy with what they see in Washington that he, not some new face, is the person best suited to deliver change," Gregg said.
One reporter to get Dole to repeat a famous 1988 campaign line, asking the senator if Forbes was "living about your record."
Dole wouldn't take the bait but said. "He's not being very accurate."
Another GOP hopeful, Pat Buchanan, predicted Dole would not be able to reverse his slide but that Forbes, too, would slip.
"I think the Forbes vote is basically a parking place for voters in New Hampshire who have yet to decide on who their nominee is going to be," Buchanan said.
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