No Tax Hike, Bush Reiterates as Dukakis OKs Increases

One day after Gov. Michael S. Dukakis succumbed to budget pressures in Massachusetts and approved two tax increases in his state, Vice President George Bush issued a categorical pledge Friday on the subject of tax increases: “I’ve ruled them all out.”

However, the vice president’s promise left unclear how he would achieve some of the key goals he has set for a potential Bush Administration--including greater emphasis on such areas as child care, education and the environment--while bringing down the nation’s approximately $150-billion budget defict and adhering to his proposed “flexible freeze” on spending.

Under questioning, he said that addressing concerns about these issues does not “equate to significant increases in federal spending.”

Setting Campaign Apart

Bush’s statement on taxes, although echoing earlier disavowals of tax hikes, reflected his effort to set his Republican campaign for the presidency apart from that of Dukakis, the certain Democratic nominee.

At the same time, Bush is moving to solidify his base among Republicans, retain the support of blue-collar voters who helped give Ronald Reagan landslide victories in 1980 and 1984 and cut into the potentially crucial support women voters appear to be giving Dukakis, according to recent public opinion polls.

His visit here was intended to deal with two of those goals. He addressed a rally that brought together Republicans from all levels of the party throughout the Midwest and was joined by his last rivals for the party’s nomination, Senate Republican leader Bob Dole of Kansas and religious broadcaster Pat Robertson.

Bush Meets With Women

Before the rally, the vice president met with approximately 60 Midwest women active in Republican politics.

Bush raised the tax issue at a news conference moments after arriving in Cincinnati, telling reporters:

“That’s the difference--as plain as day--between us. Tax cuts versus tax hikes. I will not raise your taxes, period. (Dukakis) just has in his home state and refuses to rule out a tax hike for the nation.”

Bush’s vow on taxes reflects a previously successful approach. In winning the New Hampshire primary election, he raised doubts about Dole’s opposition to tax increases and turned around a sizable Dole lead.

Reagan Increases Ignored

But, in attacking Dukakis on the basis of the Massachusetts tax hike, Bush is ignoring five Reagan Administration tax increases that will collect approximately $541 billion through 1990, according to figures provided by the Tax Foundation, a nonprofit research organization. The 1986 tax law revision will cut taxes by about $20 billion.

The increases, imposed primarily to counter the federal budget deficit and to keep the Social Security system solvent, followed Ronald Reagan’s own anti-tax stand during the 1980 presidential campaign.

Dukakis has said that, as President, he would raise taxes only as “a last resort.” On Thursday, he signed a 5% sales tax on cigarettes, intended to raise $40 million next year, and said he would also approve a measure intended to make the state income tax code similar to the federal tax code--a move that would bring about $70 million to state coffers.

The changes were dictated by an expected budget shortage that Dukakis has contended stems at least in part from shifts in the federal tax law. Massachusetts law requires the state to operate under a balanced budget.