Prometheus 6

At Florida Rally, Bush Attacks Kerry on Economy
By RICHARD W. STEVENSON

Published: March 21, 2004

ORLANDO, Fla., March 20 — President Bush on Saturday came to the state that delivered him the White House in 2000 for his first full-scale campaign rally of 2004 and opened a new line of attack on Senator John Kerry, saying his Democratic rival would raise taxes and choke off the economic recovery.

…"Given Senator Kerry's record of supporting tax increases, it's pretty clear how he's going to fill the tax gap," Mr. Bush said. "He's going to tax all of you. Fortunately, you're not going to give him that chance. Higher taxes right now would undermine growth and destroy jobs just as our economy is getting stronger."

Mr. Kerry voted against the two big tax cuts Mr. Bush pushed through Congress, in 2001 and 2003, which between them contained all the provisions that the president said Mr. Kerry opposed. [P6: First repealing Bush's tax cuts is a tax increase. Then allowing them to expire as Bush said they would is a tax increase. Now opposing Bush's tax cuts is a tax increase.]

Mr. Kerry has said that as president he would support repealing Mr. Bush's tax cuts for people earning more than $200,000 a year. But he has indicated that he would vote to extend a variety of tax reductions that are scheduled to expire at the end of this year, like the latest increase in the child credit, the break for married couples and the expansion of the 10 percent income bracket.

In 1993, Mr. Kerry voted for President Bill Clinton's deficit reduction package, which as Mr. Bush noted on Saturday amounted to the largest tax increase in American history. The package also succeeded in the view of many economists in helping to bring down the deficit, which Democrats say paved the way for the economic boom of the 1990's.