Murky future for tax cuts

Republicans regroup and plot strategy after President Clinton's veto of their $792 billion tax-cut package.

By Sarah Keech

Sep 23, 1999 | It was only a matter of time before President Clinton officially axed the "Taxpayer Refund and Relief Act of 1999," the Republican-sponsored $792 billion tax-cut plan. Even before Congress passed the plan, which was more than three times the White House's tax-cut proposal, Clinton promised a veto. And today he followed through.

Fiscally conservative Republicans hoped that a popular groundswell would force the president's hand on the tax-cut issue, the way it had with welfare reform in 1996. But outside the Beltway, the GOP tax cuts were met with indifference.

Polls consistently show Americans are more concerned with government programs than government refunds. A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll shows only 44 percent feel cutting taxes is very important, whereas 79 percent think it is very important to improve education.

The improved economy is one reason people shied away from the GOP's tax-cut plan -- but in addition, many Americans read the Republican tax cut as a partisan jab at the White House rather than a realistic plan for economic stability. Another recent poll from ABC News.com found that 49 percent of those polled think only the rich would benefit from Republican tax cuts. Even some GOP lawmakers criticized the proposal.

"The people don't need to be fooled about this ... They want to be realistic and have us start at the beginning with something that can go through, a smaller tax cut, rather than this bloated bill that can never pass," Rep. Connie Morella, one of a handful of moderate Republicans to vote against the tax cut, told the Washington Post.

Despite growing internal problems facing the GOP, fiscal conservatives are still standing firm, insisting that a large tax cut be made before Clinton leaves the White House.

"The threat of a veto should never scare the Republican majority from creating tax relief legislation," said GOP pollster Kellyanne Fitzpatrick.

"Taxes should always be a Republican issue," she added. "Once that distinction is removed between Democrats and Republicans there is just a glob, there is no real contrast between the parties."

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