THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 20, 1996 TAG: 9610190476
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: DECISION '96
As Virginians look forward to the Nov. 5 election, they're thinking a
lot about issues that are important in their lives. Leadership.
Economic security. Education. Crime. National priorities. Each Sunday,
we will hear from candidates and citizens about these issues.
LENGTH: 73 lines
If you could design the perfect tax-and-spending-deficit-reduction plan and convince your colleagues in the House of its merits, what would your plan accomplish in five years? If your plan includes a tax cut, which income level would benefit most from that cut?
JOHN WARNER: ``It would achieve a balanced budget and some measure of tax relief for Virginia's hard-working families. Families with incomes of $100,000 or less would benefit most.''
MARK WARNER: ``My plan would put us on a path to eliminate the deficit in seven years by cutting entitlements, corporate welfare and defense spending beyond what the Pentagon needs. I would defer massive tax cuts until our fiscal house is in order. Instead, I would target tax relief for middle-class families paying for college or vocational education.''
OWEN B. PICKETT: ``I am strongly committed to balancing the annual federal budget and believe our country can achieve this by `staying the course' and balancing the budget within five years. Existing policies have reduced the federal budget deficit from $290 billion for 1992 to less than $120 billion for 1996. Absolutely essential to achieving and maintaining a balanced annual federal budget is a healthy and growing national economy.''
JOHN F. TATE: ``With determination and courage, we can cut taxes and still balance the budget within five years. I support an across-the-board tax cut, which would benefit everyone. Whether a family makes $20,000, $50,000 or $80,000 per year, even a modest 5 or 10 percent tax cut puts a lot of money back in their pockets.''
ROBERT C. SCOTT: ``We should continue doing what we've been doing for the last four years. In that time we've brought down the deficit from $260 billion to $120 billion... We should continue to reduce the deficit with hard work and not with slogans...If we lower the deficit, we will lower interest rates and help the middle class family with its mortgage, credit cards and car loans. If we have tax cuts that will make it more difficult to balance the budget, and they should be deferred until after the budget is balanced. And if we have to have cuts they should be aimed at the working poor.''
ELSIE GOODWYN HOLLAND: ``I don't know what specific plan I would have. I do know I'm all for reducing and simplifying the tax code and reducing taxes. And a deficit-reduction plan means you'd have to reduce the growth of many, many of the programs that are taking all of our money...My plan would have to do something to get people out of dependence on government. I can't just tick off a plan. I haven't spent time with economists and others. If I had the vast resources of a congressional office I could do that.''
NORMAN SISISKY: ``I think a perfect plan would balance the budget over five years without sacrificing our priorities. It would not be an excuse to cut Medicare too much, Medicaid, education or the environment. Tax cuts are always desirable, but we have to make sure they don't balloon the deficit...I would do targeted tax cuts, particularly as it relates to college, two-year colleges and technical institutions. I would certainly do something with capital gains. You could target it to the middle class by just restricting it to homes.''
ANTHONY J. ZEVGOLIS: ``My bill would ensure that families that are $25,000 and under would pay zero in taxes. Even a family of four making as high as $30,000 would only pay about $200 a year in taxes. If they had three children, making $30,000 a year, they would pay zero. If you reduce the taxes, it's going to put more money back into the economy for investment purposes. It's going to lower interest rates. You have to do both. You have to cut spending at the same time you cut taxes...I would support a bill that all monies returned to the Treasury would go straight to reducing the deficit and the national debt...'' MEMO: Staff writers Meredith Cohn, Tom Holden and Elizabeth Thiel
contributed to this report.
KEYWORDS: ELECTION VIRGINIA U.S. SENATE RACE VIRGINIA
CONGRESSIONAL RACE VIRGINIA CANDIDATES ISSUES by CNB