European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 9, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday March 9, 1993 commentary the stars and stripes Page 15economic plan flies in face of realities William f. Buckley it is increasingly apparent that president Clinton and his economic advisers Are either much dumber than is really believable or else they Are engaged in disingenuous analysis done one part by tendentious arithmetic one part by a refusal to face realities. Harvard professor Martin Feldstein who. Has served As chairman of the presi dents Council of economic advisers painstakingly Analysed in the Wall Street journal the false assumptions and polemical opportunism of the Clinton budget proposal and concluded his essay by writing a pc Linton a plans to increase non defense spending labelled investments and incentives by $160 billion Over the next four years and by $55 billion in 1997 alone virtually ensures that the Clinton plan would produce a sizable increase in the share of National income absorbed by the budget deficit. What makes this particularly disturbing is that the president either does not understand this or is not leveling with the american  consider now an Earnest attempt by a reporter to examine just that Little Point do the Clinton spokesmen understand what others think of As double talk the following was picked up by Brit Hume Abc news White House correspondent in an article for National review. Or Hume wrote that Quot the Clinton team shows a marked tendency to make claims that reflect Only one Side of the picture. For example the president kept saying his $31 billion economic stimulus package would generate 5ti0,000 new jobs. That led to this Exchange Between a reporter and White House spokesman George Steph Nopoulos. A a a does that count Only for the positive effects of that and none of  negative effects of higher taxes a ogs we done to see the negative effects in �?T93 and �?T94 from the stimulus package. A qare you telling me that you re going to raise tax rates and raise Energy taxes and there Are no negative effects a ogs we believe that generally this package will have a stimulative Impact. A a a i understand that George and i done to dispute that. All in a trying to ask you is whether that number 500,000, is offset in your calculus by any loss of jobs that might occur As a result of higher taxes. I mean this is not a very controversial economic notion that when you raise taxes in a Given area that you depress economic activity. A ogs but we do not have any estimates on Job loss from this proposal no. A a a so what you do is you have estimates for jobs created by the things you believe will create jobs but no estimates of Job loss on things that might Cost jobs a ogs we done to believe this will Cost jobs. We believe Buzzo amp amp Middle class /h7erpre7%t/omsacrifice cutbacks. Limb bpm vow. For share. 10% mows i Toj tour Pat cock equal mar mme Boru Provor Macre you keep 1ucquot chump change Gross met. Economic assessment government vow you wont find a Levi you jump out me window. G0u4 up .7 it will create jobs.�?�. We Are not told who was the questioner but if at this Point he had risen at the press conference pulled a pistol from his pocket and shot himself a or perhaps or. Steph Nopoulos a it is hard to imagine an american jury would reason other than that his frustration made understandable his resorting to extreme measures. Look what professor Feldstein docs to the business of raising substantial revenues by the bundle of fresh taxes on the Rich defined As those who make More than $140,000. There Are three contemplated assaults on this group of americans. First a 37 percent jump in their marginal tax rates from 31, percent to 42.5 percent the net tax rate when you add the 10 percent surcharge and the 2.9 percent medicare tax. Writes Feldstein a in reality taxpayers will find ways of converting taxable income into non taxable income. Tax shelters and deferred compensation will become More attractive. And some individuals especially in two earner households will opt to work less. A if the higher marginal tax rate causes these taxpayers to reduce their taxable incomes by 10 percent virtually All of the presidents projected Revenue gain would  one half of All americans making More than $140,000 make less than $180,000. In other words the Rich Are heavily grouped in that rather narrow bracket. At $180,000, under the Clinton plan the marginal tax rate would Rise by 25 percent. Now if this earner finds a Way to reduce Nis income by a Mere 5 percent e.g., by investing in tax exempt bringing his taxable income Down to $171,000, for such individuals it would mean a net reduction in total taxes paid although the Treasury would collect $2,594 of additional taxes on he income up to $171,01 0, it would lose $2,790 by not taxing the remaining $9,000 at the current 31 percent rate. The net effect would be a Revenue loss of $196 instead of the projected Revenue gain of $3,305. With a 10 percent reduction in taxable income to $162,000 the higher rates would actually Cost the Treasury $3,697 for a couple with $180,000 of current taxable  what is beginning to get ones Dander up in the Crit ical class is the phoniness. How might the Clinton Campaign manager Nave put it a a it a the stupidity  univ Eiml pfc a Syndicate. Let s not Start linking taxes with Good or evil i done to know who first put together those two Little words a a sin and a taxes a but it was an inspired moment in the annals of Public relations. With one stroke the tax collector was set squarely in the Camp of the righteous and the tax protesters were Allied with the Devil. Of course a sin taxes always conveyed a slightly mixed ethical message. With one hand the government wagged its Public Finger of disapproval and promised to Price people onto the straight and Nar Rovy. With the other hand it scooped up a piece of the action. But those were the Days when drinking and smoking were considered evil. When a sin was something that put your soul in jeopardy. When we All expected to pay big time for any offences a after death. Now of course we pay the most devout attention to our medical behaviour. Our chief vices Are the ones that put our bodies in jeopardy. We May still expect to pay big time for our offences a but with a premature death. So there is something symbolic in the current proposals to help pay for health care Reform by taxing the habits of the unreformed. W e Are being offered a new generation of sin taxes Tor a new definition of sin. 1 have no problem with this As a reve nue plan. The Dollar a pack tax on tobacco suggested last week March 3 by sen. Bill Bradley and rep. Michael Andrews would raise up to $10 billion a year. Adding a Little something to the bar Bill might help us get in the Black. But i am queasy about the ties that bind evil and illness virtue and health. Sometimes it seems that the harshest moral judgments of our Era Are reserved for medical misdemeanours. People who  dream of judging others by their sexual preference or Bank balance casually calculate personal Worth according to the health commandments. But when you consider the average american medical balance Sheet there a a lot of Good and bad in any profile. Its not just a matter of Bald spots which As a Friend gasps have just become the medical Mark of Cain. Nor is it a question of Apple shaped bodies which May or May not be a sign of impending breast cancer in women and an Omen of Ellen Goodman heart disease in men. These arc in our genes no tour choices. But what of americans who eat off the High end of the food Chain and the fast end of the restaurant Chain More often than they should what of americans who buckle up and helmet Down less than they should. We May be risking trouble but Are we sinners an act May be foolish or dangerous but is it evil one misbegotten study after another suggests that the worst thing americans can do to themselves aside from lighting up another cigarette is to Swallow another glob of fat. We Are expected to Pale at the sight of a cheeseburger the Way that our great grandparents did at an exposed ankle. We now have a Bible of fat Grams with a permanent place on the Best seller list. The tabernacles inside Tell us a Tablespoon of butter has 11.5 Grams of fat and a big Mac has 35. Of we Are going to Reward and punish people for breaking medical taboos then surely we should charge a Penny a Gram for brie. If we can tax Energy by the Btu we can tax fat by the Gram. On the other h. And if it is True that moderate portions of red wine can reduce the Odds of a heart attack then should we declare it a virtue perhaps we should offer a tax break for two glasses a Day. Under the medical deduction of course. The Odd thing is that americans remain selective in our medical morality tales. All sorts of risky Behaviours escape the Mantle of right and wrong. Our health care dollars go without comment to mend the broken Bones of the horseback rider even the bungee jumper. We done to regard the skier As a sinner. Indeed we May perversely regard his indolent brother As the greater danger. But the notion that we should justify taxes As a Fine on people who mistreat their bodies is enough to make an irs Man Start counting his blessings. And our character flaws. 1 am Happy to tax cigarettes. Pm Happy to lax the billboards and the ads happier to dump the subsidies for growing tobacco. Call this tax a prepaid health plan for smokers a buy your Marlboro now get your cancer treatment later. Call it preventive Medicine a the higher the cos the fewer kids who pick up the packs. Call it popular. But done to Call it a Case of Good versus evil. For heavens Sakes done to Call it a tax on sin. C the Boston Giot