UNITED TAX-CUT FRONT IS NEEDED

Congressional Republicans appear to be all fouled up on their commitment to cut taxes. After a House vote last week on cutting taxes by only $80 billion over five years, the bill was declared dead by Senate leaders who said there was neither the time nor the will to pass it in their chamber.

For years, certain politicians in both parties said we couldn't afford tax cuts because of the deficit. Now we have the first balanced budget in 30 years, and this kind of politician says we can't cut taxes either. Social Security must be "saved," they say, and this is a bar to tax cuts.

So you can't cut taxes in deficit years, and you can't cut taxes in surplus years. Well. Republicans have convinced themselves that President Clinton's problems will deal them a victory of historic proportions four weeks from Tuesday. This may be true, but if Republicans can't coalesce around tax cutting, the question arises as to whether any such victory will be worth winning. From the Reagan years with its spectacular successes on, tax cuts have been the glue holding the Republican coalition together. Congressional Republicans forget this at their peril.