Clinton, in N.Y., Denounces Brown and Flat-Tax Plan

With an H&R; Block office as the backdrop, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton contended Wednesday that Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr.’s flat tax “declares war on New York” and other high-tax states.

“This proposal is a disaster,” he said. “We don’t need it. We can’t afford it.”

Stunned by Brown’s unexpected victory in Tuesday’s Connecticut Democratic presidential primary, Clinton is fighting to shore up his front-runner status with a decisive victory in New York on April 7, when 244 Democratic convention delegates will be at stake.

The Arkansas governor has cast himself as an effective agent of change, while portraying Brown as a purveyor of ideas that “sound simple, sound great” but don’t work.

Clinton stormed through Manhattan battering the flat-tax proposal. At the tax office, he was flanked by Mark Green, New York City’s commissioner of consumer affairs, who called the plan “supply-side deja vu .”

Brown proposes scrapping all federal taxes--including Social Security, income, corporate and estate--and substituting a 13% flat income tax, along with a 13% value added tax on manufactured goods. Brown says only mortgage payments, rent and charitable contributions would be deductible.

The former California governor says his plan would simplify the American tax system, remove a host of special deductions available only to the wealthy, and restore fairness.

But its very simplicity is a pitfall, critics say. For example, because state taxes would not be deductible, residents of high-tax states like New York and California would have to pay more, they say. In addition, they contend that the rich would benefit more than the poor. Brown disputes those assertions.

On Wednesday, Clinton said the flat tax would increase the federal deficit by $180 billion, triple taxes on the poor, increase taxes on the middle class by 30% and cut taxes by $93,000 a household for the wealthiest 1% of Americans.

Clinton called the plan to eliminate deductibility of state and local taxes a “disaster” for high-tax states because it would dramatically and disproportionately increase the tax burden on their citizens.

“This is not about Republicans and Democrats; this is not about liberals and conservatives. It’s about the 1980s versus the 1990s; it’s about what works versus what fails . . . “ Clinton said.

“We don’t need any more . . . brain-dead politics. Jerry’s tax is an example of that.”

Clinton has said he favors a modest tax cut for the middle class to restore what he calls “tax fairness,” and a program of investment tax credits to encourage corporate spending on new plants and the creation of jobs, but only if the investments are made in the United States. Those who oppose Clinton’s tax cut for the middle class say it would only provide people with an extra dollar a day.

Clinton aides said they plan to hit Brown’s flat-tax idea hard in their New York television advertising, largely because it is one of the few specific proposals that Brown has advanced.

“He’s come up with the goofiest thing since flat Earth,” said Clinton campaign consultant Paul Begala, borrowing a line from former candidate Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin. “And we want to make sure folks know about it. . . .

“The guy’s a single-issue candidate on an . . . issue that would be the single worst thing that could happen to working people.”