BUSH, GORE TAX PLANS OFFER CHOICES

Among the fiercest debates raging between the two major-party presidential candidates is over how and under what circumstances to cut taxes. (We pause here to note that the conservative side of the debate has already won a crucial victory when the question is not whether, but how, to reduce the burden of taxes on overtaxed Americans during a time of bountiful federal surpluses.) Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore do differ sharply on taxes.

Here is how The Associated Press assays the differences between the two plans:

"The basic difference between the two: Anyone who pays income taxes now would get money back under Bush's $1.3 trillion plan, while Gore's $500 billion proposal would only kick in for people engaged in certain activities and below specified income levels. For example, the two proposals would both cut taxes for a couple earning $60,000 a year with two children, but in much different ways. ...

"Under Bush's proposal, this family would see their income-tax rate fall from 15 percent to 10 percent. The current $500 per-child tax credit would rise to $1,000 for each child. Assuming they itemize their deductions -- most homeowners do to deduct their mortgage interest -- that amounts to a cut of $2,050."

Gore's plan is much more complex and can, we are told, result in a larger tax cut, but only if taxpayers jump through the series of hoops Gore would set up for them. The AP article describes it in sufficient complexity as to bewilder most readers. Citing another specific example, this time a single working mother, the AP concludes:

"Gore's plan could be similarly generous, but again only under certain circumstances. The single mother could get a $1,358 tax cut, but that assumes she is attending a community college to claim the higher education tax credit and has her kids in day care to claim the higher day care credit Gore is proposing."

Bush's plan has the virtues of economic efficiency and moral simplicity: All taxpayers receive cuts, and tens of millions of the lowest-earning taxpayers would be dropped from the tax rolls entirely. Such a plan would be such a welcome relief from the you-get-a-tax-cut-if-you-clean-your-room minimalism of the Clinton administration, which approach would emphatically be enlarged upon in a Gore administration.

Voters should educate themselves on the two plans and their stark differences.