RAN 10/25 By KEVIN LANDRIGAN Telegraph Staff
Republican presidential contender Patrick Buchanan unveiled an aggressive"Small Business Bill of Rights" on Tuesday, serving notice to primary rivals he is willing to wage a bidding war over which candidate can do more to unleash free enterprise. "As president, I intend to make America one vast enterprise zone. We can create the good, new jobs America needs by unleashing the entrepreneurial genius of America's small business community," Buchanan told the National Federation of Independent Business in Washington, D.C. Many of the Buchanan proposals are enhancements on some of the most controversial proposals in the "Contract with America" approved by the U.S. House but mired in the Senate under GOP presidential front-runner and Majority Leader Bob Dol e, R-Kan. "If we are going to complete the Republican revolution, we have to get big government off the backs of small business," Buchanan said. The speech is the latest in a 1996 campaign strategy of Buchanan to generate momentum by shifting the focus away from social issues and on to taxes, jobs and the economy [MD] the tried-and-true laundry list that motivates GOP primary voters in the first-in-the-nation state. "This was a very important speech for Pat because it outlines where he will take the country economically," Buchanan state press secretary Mike Biundo said. Indeed, Buchanan believes Clinton's performance on the economy already has crested. GOP officials point to the most recent economic growth in the past quarter - less than half of the 1994 rate - as a sign the recovery has stalled. Here are the 10 provisions of Buchanan's prescription for small business job growth: -- Balanced budget amendment: Buchanan would add a provision to require a three-fifths vote of Congress to raise federal taxes. -- Flat tax: Buchanan has joined several GOP hopefuls who favor repealing many of the loopholes in the current code in exchange for a lower rate of 17 percent for all payers. -- Inheritance taxes: Buchanan would repeal them for all family businesses and farms, an issue he first championed that is popular in the first caucus state of Iowa. -- Capital gains tax cut: Buchanan would go further than all but rival and publishing magnate Malcolm "Steve" Forbes Jr. by indexing the tax for inflation but eliminating it for all new capital invested in start-up businesses. -- Tort reform: Buchanan would revive several of the provisions that are on the rocks or in trouble now in Congress, including the elimination of punitive damages in civil lawsuits both at the federal and state level. His proposal also calls for the l oser of the lawsuit to pay all legal fees. -- Property rights: The state Legislature soundly rejected this provision still pending in the Senate to require that property owners be justly compensated for any government action that reduces the value of their land. -- Regulatory revolution: Buchanan would impose a five-year ban on new regulation and in the same time frame repeal all existing regulations unless they can be independently justified to the Congress. -- Unfunded mandates: Clinton has signed a ban on future unfunded federal mandates, but Buchanan would review and roll back all present federal laws that impose costs on state and local governments and business without paying for them. -- Quotas ban: Buchanan would force the government to prove discrimination was committed by an employer along with an end to all quotas, minority set asides and affirmative action mandates on business. Buchanan will step up the pro-business rhetoric when he returns to the state Thursday. A Seacost stop in Portsmouth will highlight Buchanan's opposition to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade treaty and its damaging impact to the New England fishing industry. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The Telegraph The daily newspaper of Nashua and P.O. Box 1008 southern New Hampshire since 1869 Nashua, NH 03061 voice: (603) 882-2741 fax: (603) 882-2681