Posted on 09/09/2004 6:50:19 PM PDT by RWR8189
MEMORANDUM President George W. Bush has a bold agenda to adapt the government to our changing economy. His broad agenda includes: overhauling our tax code with a simple, fair and pro-growth system, putting patients and doctors in charge of health care instead of government bureaucrats, strengthening and enhancing Social Security, and promoting lifelong learning to give people new skills for better jobs. Each proposal is based on a fundamental principle that government should help people improve their lives, not try to run their lives. The President's ideas build on America's inherent strengths - such as technology and our innovative spirit - and allow for all Americans to own their future. John Kerry offers a vision of old ideas for a new economy. His agenda is filled with the same old promises that will increase the government's power over our income, retirement, health care, and economy. It starts with a big government-run health care plan that's funded with big tax increases. The government is in charge and the people foot the bill. When evaluating these proposals, voters should simply ask: who will be in charge? This memorandum compares and contrasts the differing visions for America's economy in six key areas: 1. Tax Relief 1. Tax Relief: President Bush has a strong record and forward-looking agenda on cutting taxes. John Kerry's record is one of tax hikes. His agenda to put the government in charge of health care and other aspects of our economy will mean raising more taxes. President Bush has delivered tax relief for families and our economy - President Bush knows our economy grows when taxpayers get to keep more of their hard-earned money to spend, save and invest as they see fit. 111 million individuals and families, including 25 million small business owners, are receiving tax relief from the: President Bush will make the tax code simpler, fairer and pro-growth - President Bush has proposed and budgeted to make the tax relief permanent so that taxpayers don't suffer a tax hike and can plan for the future. Furthermore, he has called for a bipartisan effort with Congress to overhaul the tax code so that it's simpler for taxpayers, encourages saving and investment, and improves the economy's ability to create high-paying jobs. John Kerry has a record of voting to send more tax dollars to Washington instead of keeping them in the productive hands of individuals and businesses - He has voted for higher taxes hundreds of times. He voted 98 times for tax increases totaling more than $2.3 trillion. In addition, he has voted 126 times against tax cuts, voted 73 times to reduce the size of tax cuts, voted 67 times for smaller tax cuts, and voted 11 times against repealing tax hikes. These votes against taxpayers range from supporting higher taxes on gasoline to opposing the doubling of the child tax credit to $1,000. Now Kerry wants to raise taxes on successful small business owners and entrepreneurs - 90% of businesses pay taxes through the individual income tax, not the corporate income tax, and they have benefited from the President's tax relief. Kerry's call to repeal tax cuts for the "wealthy" would increase taxes on hundreds of thousands of successful small businesses and entrepreneurs who pay taxes in the top two individual income tax brackets. Under Kerry's plan, these small businesses would have to pay a higher tax than corporations. That's unfair and bad economics. (Source: Joint Economic Committee and Small Business Survival Committee) Kerry's spending jeopardizes middle class tax relief - Kerry has proposed over $2 trillion in more government spending, yet he won't budget for making permanent the President's middle class tax relief that he claims to support. Kerry's spending means he will have to break his promises of reducing the deficit, not increasing taxes on the middle class, or both. 2. Health Care: President Bush has a comprehensive health care agenda that will help us adapt to changes in the economy. He is making health care more portable between jobs, putting the consumer in charge and addressing the root causes of health care costs. John Kerry's record is one of ignoring root causes of health care costs. His plan will just shift costs over to the taxpayers and will require tax hikes to fund it. President Bush created new, innovative Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) to put consumers in control and to lower costs - The new Medicare law created Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) that offer flexible, affordable insurance options for small businesses and individuals. The accounts are combined with high-deductible, catastrophic health insurance and allow individuals to save, earn and spend their money on health care tax-free. HSAs put patients in charge and reduce costs by letting them make decisions instead of bureaucrats. President Bush proposes to expand HSAs to cover more Americans - He will expand the availability of HSAs in three key ways: (1) provide a tax deduction for the premiums of high-deductible insurance that goes with HSAs, (2) allow the health care tax credits he's proposing for the uninsured to partially fund an HSA, and (3) provide tax incentives for small businesses to fund HSAs for their employees. John Kerry continues to oppose HSAs even though they're producing results - HSAs just became available in January of this year, but the evidence is already coming in that they're working: President Bush proposes refundable health care tax credits for the uninsured - The President proposes refundable tax credits of up to $3,000 for families and $1,000 for individuals to help low-income workers buy health insurance coverage that best meets their needs. This proposal would provide coverage for an estimated 4-5 million Americans who currently lack coverage. (Hon. Pamela F. Olson testimony, Ways & Means Committee, 2/11/04) Kerry opposes the President's health care tax credits - Kerry has instead proposed a different version of health care tax credits for individuals and small businesses that keep the government in charge. Kerry's command-and-control version of tax credits would allow people to use the credits only if they buy health insurance through a new national insurance pool that Kerry would create and the government would run. President Bush proposes Association Health Plans (AHPs) to help small businesses band together to buy health insurance - Small businesses often cannot afford employee health benefits. The President advocates allowing small businesses to band together and negotiate lower health care premiums for their workers and families - just like bigger businesses and unions do. This will give America's working families greater access to health insurance. Kerry opposes allowing small businesses to buy health insurance together - He opposes AHPs for small businesses to provide health insurance for their employees, even though in our dynamic economy small businesses create seven out of 10 new jobs. "Labor unions and big corporations already have the ability to purchase health insurance at discounted rates; small business is simply asking for that same right. Opposing AHPs is like forcing small businesses to buy cans of soda one at a time out of a vending machine, except it's their health - not their thirst - that's at stake!" (www.nfib.com, Press Release 3/25/02: NFIB Makes the "Case" for AHPs During Congressional Recess) Kerry just shifts health costs onto taxpayers - Kerry's solution is to expand existing federal health care programs and create new government-run insurance pools, shifting the costs to the American taxpayers without giving consumers more control over their health care. Kerry's "savings" of 10 percent is simply a shift of health care costs to the American taxpayer. In addition, Kerry's proposals are available only to employers and insurers who agree to comply with Kerry's stringent requirements regarding the level of coverage, the use of savings, and the eligibility of workers. President Bush proposes medical liability reform to save billions of vital health care dollars that could insure more Americans - Too many lawsuits without merit are being filed against doctors and hospitals, forcing them to practice defensive medicine, driving good doctors out of practice, and driving up health care costs for everyone. The President believes people who have a legitimate claim must have their day in court. But to make health care more affordable and accessible to everyone, we must reduce the number of frivolous lawsuits and limit excessive jury awards. "Medical liability reform could save consumers between $60 billion and $108 billion per year in health care costs, save taxpayers an additional $28 billion annually, and allow another 3.9 million Americans to afford health insurance." ("Addressing the New Health Care Crisis," HHS 03/03/03; "Liability for Medical Malpractice: Issues and Evidence," Joint Economic Committee, 5/03) Kerry and Edwards oppose real medical liability reform - Kerry has opposed or voted to block medical liability reforms at least 10 times in the past decade. Now Kerry and Edwards claim the way to reduce frivolous lawsuits is to require that medical liability cases be reviewed by newly created expert panels before they can be filed in court, and then to later hold lawyers accountable if they bring frivolous cases. But their plan will not reduce costs because: 3. Social Security & Personal Saving: President Bush wants to strengthen Social Security and has a plan to increase personal saving. John Kerry wants to ignore Social Security and has no plan. President Bush wants to strengthen Social Security - He wants to add voluntary personal retirement accounts to Social Security for younger workers to be able to save a portion of their payroll taxes so all Americans can build and own a nest-egg for retirement. He opposes changes in benefits for current and near retirees. President Bush has shown leadership - He formed a bipartisan commission that unanimously recommended three options for reform. Since then six different bills have been introduced in Congress. President Bush is committed to working with Congress to strengthen Social Security in the next term. John Kerry has just been paying "lip service" to Social Security - "[F]rontrunner John Kerry pays lip service to protecting senior's benefits. But one could travel for days on his campaign bus before learning that the system needed any fixing at all. This is surprising since experts in both parties are convinced that Social Security needs a dramatic overhaul, soon. … Democrats, riddled with internal dissent on the proper course for fixing the system, have trouble distinguishing themselves as anything but defenders of the status quo." (Jonathan Darman, "No Time For A Great Debate," Newsweek Online, 2/17/04) Kerry doesn't have a vision to fix inequities in the system - His opposition to allowing voluntary, personal retirement accounts in Social Security means denying the opportunity for all workers to build a nest-egg with their own savings that they own. It means denying the opportunity for low-income people - who often die at an early age and cannot recoup their Social Security taxes - the ability to create wealth and pass it on to future generations. Kerry doesn't have a plan to avoid steep tax increases, benefit cuts or both - His denial of the reality of the Baby Boomer generation retiring will make Social Security's financial problems even worse. Kerry only seems to understand tax increases - He has voted eight times for higher taxes on Social Security benefits - the money didn't even go towards Social Security. He voted five times for Clinton's proposal in 1993 to increase the income tax on certain Social Security benefits from 50% of the benefits to 85% of the benefits. He voted against repealing the tax increase in 1996, 2000 and 2003. President Bush has a plan to streamline savings accounts and increase personal savings - He proposes to consolidate the three types of existing Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) into a single Retirement Savings Account, and consolidate numerous employer-based retirement plans into an easier, single Employer Retirement Savings Account. His plan would also create a new Lifetime Savings Account that could be used to save for health care, education, or any other family need. These changes will make it easier for all Americans to save for a variety of needs throughout their lives. Kerry opposes the President's plan to streamline and expand savings accounts - He has no plan for Americans to save more for their retirement and other needs. 4. International Competition: President Bush wants to make sure America is the best place in the world to do business by making sure we have pro-growth policies in place and the best trained workers in the world. John Kerry's proposals will make U.S. companies less competitive. The costs of doing business in the U.S. are too high - A study by the Manufacturers Alliance and National Association of Manufacturers found last year that external overhead costs add 22% to U.S. manufacturers' unit labor costs. These costs do not include worker's pay. The extra costs come from higher "taxes, health and pension benefits, tort litigation, regulation and rising energy prices" relative to major foreign competitors. ("How Structural Costs Imposed on U.S. Manufacturers Harm Workers and Threaten Competitiveness," Manufacturers Alliance and National Association of Manufacturers, 12/03) President Bush is making the U.S. a better place to do business - He has a plan to reduce the costs of doing business in the U.S. He is reducing the tax burden on capital by lowering tax rates on capital gains and dividends, and increasing business expensing. Now it's cheaper for businesses to invest in the U.S. As noted above, President Bush is also reducing regulatory costs and working to reduce health care, liability and energy costs. John Kerry's corporate tax plan would make the U.S. less internationally competitive - Kerry would partially end the deferral of foreign income, making the tax code even more complicated and making U.S. companies less competitive internationally. The Institute for International Economics reports "it would actually tilt the tax field more steeply in favor of foreign MNCs [multinational companies]." Kerry's own advisers admit his plan won't stop outsourcing - "Campaign officials acknowledged that the new plan would not stop the broader trend of outsourcing jobs to low-wage countries." Kerry's New Jobs Tax Credit won't work either - Kerry proposes bringing back a tax credit from the Carter era that didn't work then and won't work now. It's complicated and will require more paperwork. It puts good companies that didn't lay off their employees during the recession at a competitive disadvantage with companies that did lay off employees and now hire employees. Even the study Kerry cited in support of the idea concluded it didn't work: "Most firms either did not know of the program or were not influenced by it, a result which makes this short-run program an imperfect counter-cyclical tool." ("The New Jobs Tax Credit: An Evaluation of the 1977-78 Wage Subsidy Program," Jeffrey M. Perloff and Michael L. Wachter, The American Economic Review, May 1979) President Bush is investing in the research, science, and technology needed to expand innovation in America - President Bush will provide universal, affordable broadband access to all Americans by 2007. He has doubled the amount of spectrum available for wireless broadband and has proposed to make permanent the moratorium on Internet taxes. Federal R&D funding is up to a record $132 billion in 2005 - a 44% increase over 2001 levels. He has doubled the budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and increased the National Science Foundation's (NSF) budget by 30%. President Bush wants to make the research and experimentation tax credit permanent to promote private sector investment in new technologies and manufacturing techniques. Kerry "has seldom taken a direct role" on high-tech legislation despite long term on Senate Commerce Committee - "Sen. John F. Kerry, a [Commerce] committee member since 1986, has seldom taken a direct role in shaping the major legislative decisions on technology during the 1990s, according to former Federal Communications Commission officials, telecommunications executives and congressional staffers." (Ralph Vartabedian and Lisa Getter, "In Senate, Kerry Maintained A Low Profile On High-Tech," Los Angeles Times, 3/27/04) President Bush is investing in the human capital needed to maintain the United States' leadership in innovation - President Bush's bipartisan No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requires all states to have accountability plans to ensure that all students become proficient at reading and math and that achievement gaps are closed between students of different socio-economic backgrounds. President Bush has increased elementary and secondary funding by $12.3 billion (49%) since 2001 to a record $37 billion. The President's new proposals would expand rigorous courses for high school students, promote eLearning opportunities, and invest in math and science programs. He has increased job training funding 12% to a record $23 billion, proposed doubling the number of workers trained by reforming job training programs, proposed $250 million in community colleges that are linked with local employers looking for more skilled workers, and developed policies to make student loans more flexible for life-long learning. Students and workers are hurt by Senator Kerry's policies - Kerry weakens accountability by judging schools based on inputs, like teacher attendance, instead of the output of whether students are actually learning. He wants to return to the failed notion that a school can be high-performing, even if a group of students are not proficient in math. Instead of identifying students who need extra help, Kerry's plan hides them under the school's averages. Senator Kerry doesn't offer a single job training proposal to help workers obtain the skills needed to secure high-skilled, high-paying jobs. President Bush is providing targeted assistance to communities experiencing difficulties transitioning to the Innovation Economy - The President's Opportunity Zone proposal provides tax incentives, increased bond authority, and targeting of existing competitive grants and tax credits to help communities transition to the Innovation Economy. Communities that have lost a significant portion of their economic base as a result of our changing economy will receive support for economic development, education, job training, affordable housing, telecommunications and other activities critical for revitalizing a community. 5. Frivolous Lawsuits: President Bush wants to reduce the burden of frivolous lawsuits on our economy. Our legal system is too unpredictable and costly. John Kerry (and his running mate) has supported these costs in the past and his agenda will do nothing to reduce these costs in the future. The U.S. legal system is encouraging frivolous lawsuits that burden our economy while providing too little benefit to victims - The overburdened legal system presently returns less than 50 cents on the dollar to injured plaintiffs, and only 22 cents to compensate for actual economic loss. A survey of 75 Fortune 500 companies found that these companies faced 465 overlapping and duplicative class actions during a 11-year period. (Sources: "Tillinghast-Towers Perrin, U.S. Court Costs: 2002 Update, Trends and Findings on the Costs of the U.S. Tort System;" & "Analysis: Duplicative Class Action Litigation," Class Action Watch) The legal system is costing America jobs - Asbestos litigation alone has bankrupted numerous companies, costing Americans 188,000 jobs. The President supports meaningful asbestos reform that protects the rights of those with asbestos-related injuries while preserving American jobs, but Senate Democrats like John Kerry are blocking it. (Source: Trial Lawyers, Inc. "A Report on the Lawsuit Industry in American," 2003) It's holding back small businesses too - A small business with $10 million in annual revenue pays about $150,000 a year in tort liability costs. That's money that could be used to invest and hire employees. (Source: "Liability Costs for Small Business: Fast Facts," Institute for Legal Reform, 2004) President Bush proposes legal reforms to reduce waste and inefficiency - For example, he would eliminate conflicting and overlapping class action lawsuits from being filed in multiple jurisdictions with a new minimum diversity rule that would extend federal jurisdiction to 100-plus plaintiff class actions with an aggregate amount-in-controversy of more than $5 million. President Bush would ensure class action awards go to victims - President Bush supports a consumer class action bill of rights that includes: (1) prohibiting courts from approving settlements that discriminate among class members solely on the basis of their geographic location or their status within the class; (2) requiring judicial review of any proposed settlement that requires class members to pay attorney's fees that would result in a net loss to those class members; and, (3) requiring judicial review of settlements that give class members coupons or non-cash benefits as payment. Kerry and Edwards oppose meaningful reforms - They have never voted for the above class action reforms and have even opposed reforms that would cut back on profiteering by trial lawyers. Kerry has voted against capping punitive damages for small businesses and capping attorneys' contingency fees for non-economic damages. Kerry even authored an amendment that fellow Democrat Senator Ron Wyden called "a lightning rod for additional frivolous lawsuits" - "‘The Kerry amendment is a lightning rod for additional frivolous lawsuits,' Wyden charged. ‘Some of the language is so vague it's going to ignite a litigation derby.' Kerry's amendment went down to defeat yesterday on a 57-to-41 vote." (Carolyn Lochhead, "Silicon Valley's Y2K Lawsuit Limit Gaining In Senate," The San Francisco Chronicle, 6/10/99) 6. Regulatory Reform: President Bush understands that our government must change as our economy changes. He wants to reduce the economic costs of government regulations. John Kerry's record and agenda ignores these costs and the need to adapt. He would implement a host of outdated regulations. President Bush is reducing the economic costs of government regulations - The costs of government regulations can be reduced without jeopardizing safety by eliminating redundancy, using information technology and modernizing outdated regulations. So far the Bush Administration has reduced the economic costs of new regulations from $13.1 billion per year in 2000 to $2.5 billion per year in 2003. (Source: Office of Management and Budget, Congressional testimony of John Graham, 4/20/04) John Kerry ignores the economic costs of burdensome regulations - He has voted against requiring economic studies and cost-benefit analyses for new laws and regulations. President Bush proposes to streamline regulations so factories can install new pollution control technologies - Current "New Source Review" rules require manufacturers and utilities to go through a complex and counterproductive permitting process before they can modify their operations with new technologies. President Bush has proposed a new regulation to streamline this requirement that the non-partisan Resources for the Future says "retards environmental progress and wastes resources." (Howard Gruenspecht and Robert Stavins, "A Level Playing Field on Pollution at Power Plants," The Boston Globe, 1/26/02) Kerry's opposition to the streamlined regulations threatens improvements and clean coal technology installations - Kerry opposes the Bush Administration reforms and went so far as to actually join a lawsuit against them. The National Coal Council says uncertainty over the New Source Review policy "has had a direct and chilling effect on all maintenance and efficiency improvements and clean coal technology installations at existing power plants." (National Coal Council, "Increasing Electricity Availability in the Short Term," May 2001) President Bush proposes an innovative "cap-and-trade" system to reduce mercury emissions 70% by 2018 - His proposal for the first-ever flexible, market-based cap-and-trade method will cut emissions further, faster, and cheaper than command-and-control alternatives. This approach will protect public health and the environment, maintain a strong and viable coal industry, and ensure low-cost electricity. John Kerry supports a command-and-control approach opposed by manufacturers - Kerry is a cosponsor of S. 366 (The Clean Power Act), which relies on antiquated, command-and-control regulations to reduce mercury emissions. It would decimate the coal industry and raise electricity prices for consumers and businesses. According to the National Association of Manufacturers, "under S. 366 (The Clean Power Act)…manufacturers, as well as homeowners and other energy consumers, would pay more for their electricity and natural gas." Moreover, "excessively stringent emission-reduction targets like those found in S. 366 and S. 843 would waste capital dollars that otherwise can be put into increasing productivity, energy efficiency and employment." (Source: NAM, On Proposed National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants; and, in the Alternative, Proposed Standards of Performance for New and Existing Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Steam Generating Units; Proposed Rule) John Kerry is calling for an unfair tax on businesses that comply with environmental regulations - Kerry wants a Superfund tax that the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) opposes, "NAM strongly opposes reinstatement of all Superfund taxes as an unnecessary burden on industry ($15 billion over 10 years), as there is no connection between the taxes and funding for Superfund cleanups." (Source: National Association of Manufacturers, http://capwiz.com/nam/issues/votes/?votenum=45&chamber=S&congress=1082) President Bush is funding cleanup without the tax - President Bush opposes the Superfund tax because it is broad-based and unfairly targets businesses that comply with the law. Under President Bush, polluters already are paying. In fact, 87% of the cost of new cleanups was borne by Potentially Responsible Parties in 2003 - exceeding the EPA's historical 70%. President Bush has requested significant funding increases to clean up Superfund sites - his FY2005 budget includes $1.4 billion for Superfund, a $124 million increase over last year. Federal spending on the Superfund program is directed at cleaning up "orphan" sites, those sites where there is NOT an identifiable and viable party. (Source: EPA, "Pollution Reduction Enforcement Numbers More Than Double; Agency Using Better Data to Guide Enforcement Initiatives," December 11, 2003)
FROM: BC'04 POLICY DEPARTMENT
2. Health Care
3. Social Security & Personal Saving
4. International Competition
5. Frivolous Lawsuits
6. Regulatory Reform
(Source: Treasury Department, press release, 4/9/04)
("Senator Kerry on Corporate Tax Reform: Right Diagnosis, Wrong Prescription," Institute for International Economics, Gary Haufbauer, 4/04)
(Source: "Kerry to Propose Eliminating a Tax Break on U.S. Companies' Overseas Profits," The New York Times, 3/26/04)
tax them till they bleed
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