PRESS RELEASE
September 11, 1996

STATEMENT BY JOE LOCKHART
NATIONAL PRESS SECRETARY

The report released by the Republicans suggesting the President’s economic plan would cost the American people an additional $64 billion in taxes over the next ten years is a flawed and misleading document.

Maybe the Republicans were confused. Their report counts over $30 billion in tax proposals that were already passed into law this year by the Gingrich Congress. Another $90 billion in provisions are not new revenue provisions at all, but extensions of current laws that scores of Republicans -- including Bob Dole -- have voted for.

When these inappropriate comparisons are swept away, it is clear by any analysis that the President has a strong net tax cut, and most importantly, an indisputable targeted tax cut for working families of over $100 billion.

If the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation had also presented a 10-year analysis on the Dole economic plan, they would have had to admit that Dole's tax plan would cost Americans over $1 trillion, making more Americans wonder how high the deficit and interest rates would rise, and which programs Bob Dole and Newt Gingrich would cut to pay for their reckless economic scheme.

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