Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 23, 1995 TAG: 9509250034
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Hearst Newspapers
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Forbes, 48, said the centerpiece of his campaign will be his plan to replace the 7 million-word federal tax code with a flat 17 percent income tax rate.
A newcomer to elective politics, Forbes compared himself to former President Reagan and said the abolition of the existing tax code would ignite entrepreneurial America, double economic growth and free Americans to file tax returns on postcards.
Forbes also said he would tie the nation's currency to the gold standard to ensure stability, strip the federal departments of Commerce, Education, Housing and Energy ``of all but their essential functions'' and fight for term limits for elected federal officials to ``change the culture of Washington by changing the rules of the game.''
Forbes conceded that there would be ``skeptics'' to his ``unusual'' presidential candidacy. ``But I am throwing my hat into the ring today in full confidence that this campaign for president can and will succeed,'' Forbes said at the National Press Club.
Forbes is heir to his family's publishing fortune and CEO, son of the late Malcolm Forbes, and editor of Forbes Magazine, a business publication. He said he would devote as much as $25 million of his own money to the race, while not accepting federal matching funds during the GOP primary campaign - a move freeing him to exceed the state-by-state spending limits set by the Federal Elections Commission for candidates accepting taxpayer funds.
His fund raising still will have to abide by the federal law limiting contributions to $1,000 per person and $5,000 per political action committee.
Forbes said his plan to ``junk'' the Internal Revenue Service code and ``replace it with a pro-growth, pro-family tax cut'' would expand tax exemptions for individuals and children to the point that a family of four ``would pay no taxes on the first $36,000 of income.''
He proposes eliminating capital gains taxes, taxes on pensions, taxes on income from personal savings, and taxes on Social Security payments.
Of his fellow Republican candidates, Forbes said ``Their vision of what we can do is narrow, cramped and constricted. They have been in Washington - or in politics or both - for all of their adult lives. They haven't been at the center of the entrepreneurial economy.''
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB