Anderson Flails GOP Tax Cut, Advocates Inflation Program
Independent presidential aspirant John Anderson, seeking to put as much distance as possible between .himself and Ronald Reagan, yesterday denounced the GOP candidate^ call for a tax cut of almost 30 percent over the next three years. Instead, Anderson called for a gradual program geared to progress in fighting inflation.</br></br>Reminded by his questioner1 on the television program ÛÏIssues and AnswersÛ (ABC, WJLA) that he had supported the same Kemp-Roth tax proposal now a part of the GOP platform when he, Anderson, was a member of the Republican leadership, the candidate replied: ÛÏTime moves on; circumstances change. At that time inflation was 6 percent; today we have a core inflation of 10-11 percent. To compare the success of tax cuts in the Coolidge-Mellon or even the Kennedy-Johnson eras, as Mr. Reagan does, is to ignore the fact that the economy has developed some difficult structural changes.Û</br></br>He rejected charges that he has frequently changed his mind on key issues. Anderson said were he elected he would not be as ÛÏrigid i and doctrinaireÛ as Reagan. He would remain flexible but, on the other hand, would be more ÛÏconsistentÛ than Carter who, he noted, had produced two entirely new and different budgets within seven weeks and five different proposals for military spending in five months. .</br></br>Reaching out for a wider audience, Anderson attacked the GOP cut as an effort to ÛÏtry to sell a white collar tax cut to the blue collar workers of this countryÛ and added, ÛÏI donÛªt think this is the most equitable way of going about cutting taxes.Û Under the GOP plan the minimum tax rata would be reduced from 14 to 10 percent; the maximum rate from 70 to 60 percent. This means a worker making $10,000 would get a tax cub of just over $100 a year while tho $50,000 family would get $1,000.</br></br>Anderson indicated a tax'cut was not a panacea per se for unemployment or the woes of the automobile industry. ÛÏI just donÛªt believe that the kind of tax cut that has been proposed by Mr. Reagan is going to i be that effective in addressing the I problems of an industry that has clearly gotten into trouble because it hasnÛªt produced the kind of cars the American people want to buy. Putting $100 or $1,000 into (taxpayers) | pockets isnÛªt suddenly going to pro- ( auce a great bonanza for the auto industry.Û