Nashua Telegraph
RAN 1/26
By KEVIN LANDRIGAN 
Telegraph Staff
 CONCORD - Republican presidential hopeful Lamar Alexander filled in more
gaps of his income tax reform plan Thursday and defended his past 
decisions to raise taxes when he was governor of Tennessee. 
 Alexander said he favored reducing the number of income tax rates from
five to two and cutting taxes on investments and inheritances. 
 Those breaks would be paid for by eliminating all the deductions in the
tax code except the two most popular, donations to charity and for taxes
and interest paid on home mortgages. 
 "There would be two low rates, there would be a simple tax code. That is
a tax cut which would benefit all Americans, not just a few. It is a
common-sense tax cut and that is the kind we ought to be talking
about," Alexander said. 
 The candidate offered no specific rates to replace the current code,
which runs from 15 percent to 39.6 percent. Forbes and other rivals
including Sen. Phil Gramm and Pat Buchanan were premature for fixing any
plan in hard numbers at this point, Alexa nder said. 
 "These tax proposals which suggest a particular rate are naive,"
Alexander said. "We have to see how much savings come from reducing the
deficit and apply those savings to lower the rate." 
 Alexander said it's true the wealthiest would get the most gain
out of reducing tax rates, but Forbes' plan is irrational. 
 "Any time you reduce tax rates, more of the benefit goes to people who
have more of the money. I am a supply-sider but I don't go over the deep
end like Mr. Forbes," Alexander said. 
 During a news conference, Alexander defended his moves as governor of
Tennessee to raise gasoline and sales taxes during the early 1980s. 
 "I raised (gasoline) taxes to build the best road system in the country.
That is like putting gasoline in your tank, it would be pretty dumb not to
do it. The only other time I raised (sales) taxes was to pay teachers more
for teaching well," Alexander said. 
 Alexander said it was not contradictory for him now to sign a pledge not
to raise federal income tax rates if elected president. 
 "States and federal government are very different places. The federal
government needs no new taxes. The state of Tennessee has among the lowest
taxes in America ... I don't need a lecture about any senator from
Washington about taxe s and discipline when they have run up a $600
billion a day deficit," Alexander said. 
 Speaking to the New Hampshire Legislature,
Alexander increased the assault on Forbers' single-rate income tax
plan, warning it will cut the taxes of the super-wealthy like Forbes but
raise taxes for many in the middle-class. 
 The Forbes' 17 percent flat tax plan would erase all deductions and not
be applied to investments or unearned income such as trust funds. 
 "I think the Steve Forbes tax plan would cut Mr. Forbes' taxes and raise
your taxes. In fact, you might be paying Mr. Forbes' taxes," Alexander
said. 
 Alexander cited as an example Rev. Sam Schreiner, the minister of a
Londonderry Presbyterian church, where he stayed during his walk across
the southern tier of the state. 
 "Reverend Schreiner runs a low-cost kindergarten for children in the
community, a youth program for children from broken homes and a group for
single parents," Alexander began. 
 "All of the church's activities depend on charitable contributions, and
if the Forbes tax plan were to become law, Reverend Schreiner and his
church would feel its impact." 
 Taking away the deduction for employers of health care benefits will also
cause them to pass that on to workers, adding to the taxable income with
the Forbes plan, Alexander claimed. 



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