WASHINGTON – President Clinton’s spokesman yesterday left the door open a crack to tax cuts – and some key Democrats said they’re willing to consider the Republican call for cutting taxes in 1999.
That news came amid mounting signs that Clinton’s proposal to have Uncle Sam invest in the stock market is all but dead now that Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan has said it risks politicizing Wall Street.
Asked if Clinton thinks it’s impossible to cut taxes and fix Social Security this year, spokesman Joe Lockhart replied: “Certainly not on the scale that some of the Republican leaders have talked about, no.”
But Lockhart’s remarks left the door open to a smaller tax cut than the 10 percent across-the-board approach pushed by Republicans, who also want to end the “marriage penalty” in federal income taxes.
Meanwhile, the powerful Republican who heads the House tax-writing committee said he’s willing to set aside most of the $4.4 trillion budget surplus over the next 15 years for Social Security, as Clinton wants – but will aim to use the rest for tax cuts.
“We would be willing to reserve 62 percent of the surplus until Social Security has been saved,” said House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Archer (R-Texas), adding that the rest could allow for tax cuts.
The top Democrat on that panel – Manhattan Rep. Charles Rangel – called that “one heck of a great beginning” and said he’d be ready to consider a tax cut, too.
“If we save Social Security and Medicare, then I will volunteer that we should deal with a tax cut too,” Rangel told The Post. “The whole thing is, we need a package. Do we have the votes to put together a bipartisan package?”
Republicans over the past few days have stressed that there’s an opening for tax cuts since Clinton now says only 62 percent of the surplus is needed for Social Security – a shift from last year when he said it was all needed.
Aides to New York Sen. Daniel P. Moynihan, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, noted he has already proposed a big tax cut – a 2 percent reduction in the Social Security tax.
For 80 percent of Americans, the Social Security tax takes a bigger bite out of take-home pay than federal income taxes do.