Kerry slams president over national sales tax Says Bush has 'no new ideas'

[papau]

http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20040813/6450720s.htm

Kerry slams president over national sales tax Says Bush has 'no new ideas' for economy
By Martin Kasindorf
USA TODAY CARSON, Calif. -- Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry attacked President Bush on Thursday for saying a proposal to abolish the federal income tax and replace it with a national sales tax is worth considering. The Bush administration already had disavowed the idea soon after the president promoted it.

''I'm not exactly sure how big the national sales tax is going to have to be (23% with no leakage - 33% with expected leakage, per NPR), but it's kind of an interesting idea that we ought to explore seriously,'' Bush said Tuesday at a Florida campaign event, answering a question from the audience.

After Bush's comments stirred reporters' demands for details, administration officials denied Wednesday that Bush is considering such a tax.

As Kerry emphasized his own tax proposals here at California State University-Dominguez Hills, the White House's shifting positions gave the Democrat an opening to ridicule Bush on two points the Republican campaign regards as strengths: Bush's tax-cutting record and his reputation for straight talk.

Proposals for a national sales tax have gained little ground in Congress. Critics say that such a tax would unfairly fall more heavily on lower-income families who spend a larger proportion of their incomes on taxable goods than the wealthy do.

Kerry said a national sales tax would amount to ''one of the largest tax increases on the middle class in American history.'' To produce the same revenue for the government as the income tax, Kerry said, a national sales tax would have to be ''at least a 26% add-on'' to the state and local sales taxes Americans now pay. These taxes average 6.2%.<snip>

[WI_DEM]

1. this is a great opening and Kerry should keep attacking him

on proposing "the highest tax on the middle class ever"

[tridim]

2. Not to mention, it's a great way for the pukes to tax the Internet

Bandwidth and online purchases. It's a horrible idea.. Wonder why Rove had Bush bring it up?

[Julien Sorel]

5. Rove didn't.

Things like that are what happen when Bush tries to think for himself.

I just read a link that contains a transcript of a Bush town hall meeting in New Mexico. The entire thing was obviously staged from start to finish. Bush's comments were all bland, programmed, and vague. The guy is simply an extremely limited politician, and he requires a ton of handling just to get by. With his skills, the Republicans are going to have a tough time building a really dynamic, imaginative campaign, because he simply can't communicate details well enough to paint a picture. When he actually does start speaking about details, what usually comes out is kind of frightening -- like this.

[Union Thug]

3. keep pounding at the body...

...and the head will fall... Go get 'em Kerry.

Would Bush's consideration and the admin's immediate rebuff count as a FLIP FLOP, or just another stupid Bush Gone Wild excerpt?

[JI7]

4. this wasn't just a mistake on Bush's part it IS what the right wing aims

to do. a regressive tax system .

[papau]

6. Tax wages - do not tax the rich folks investment return

Seems fair - to the GOP.

:-(

[TheDonkey]

7. I LOVE BUSH

and his new ideas. They always seem to crash in burn in less than a week.

National Sales tax, and the mission to mars should be prominent themes in the convention.

:evilgrin:

[gratuitous]

8. Bring it up over and over, John!

I don't care if the admnistration has flip-flopped and they now say that the Top Man didn't really mean what he plainly said, keep talking about it! Let them issue denial after denial, and keep talking about it. Hit them hard, hit them where it hurts, and hit them repeatedly.