Clinton, Republicans Each Pitch Own Tax, Budget Plans

President Clinton and Republicans clashed Saturday on tax and budget policy.

In dueling radio broadcasts, Republicans derided the president’s new budget plans as an empty bag of goodies. Clinton suggested GOP plans for a 10% income tax cut would “waste a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to shore up Social Security and Medicare.

The president used his weekly radio address to rehash the centerpiece of his State of the Union address that will be formally submitted to Congress in his budget next month: a proposal to dedicate the billions of dollars in federal surplus to shoring up the troubled Social Security system, add money to the Medicare trust fund and create so-called USA savings accounts for workers.

Families would receive tax credits to contribute to their accounts and save for retirement as a way of supplementing Social Security. “That’s the kind of tax relief America needs,” the president said.

Speaking for the Republicans in their radio speech, Sen. Rod Grams of Minnesota said Clinton’s “targeted tax cuts” are really meant to “try to dictate social conduct, rewarding only a few with too few dollars.”

Of the president’s State of the Union address, Grams said: “There was something in that speech for everyone. Well, almost everyone. The speech lasted 77 minutes and contained 77 new spending proposals, but there was nothing in it for the American taxpayers.”

Congressional Republicans are advancing an across-the-board 10% cut in the personal tax rate. “You see, Republicans believe individuals and families should make their own spending decisions,” Grams said.

Countered Clinton: “Social Security first, then saving Medicare and giving tax relief to help all Americans save in the new USA accounts. . . . If we squander the surplus, we’ll waste a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build a stronger nation for our children and our grandchildren.”