Clinton Backs Away From Tax Cut Vow: 'I Have to Put Everything Back on the Table' in Light of Defici
President-elect Clinton yesterday bached away from his campaign promise of a middle-class tax cut, saying that the growing federal budget deficit meant that "I have to put every tiling back on the table.Û</br></br>In an interview with a group of Arkansas reporters, Clinton said of his campaign promise to cut taxes on the middle class: ÛÏI think I have to revisit it in light of the bigger deficit." Asked if that meant the tax cut would not occur, Clinton said lie would still try to bring more fairness to the tax system but added that "the size and timing of it" would have to take account of the mounting deficit projections.</br></br>ClintonÛªs comments were his most direct to date suggesting that the middle-class tax cut that was once a key feature of his economic program might not be enacted as iiis campaign platform collides with budget realities. The stage for that has been set in recent days with comments by Clinton advisers, including budget director-designate</br></br>Two increases in deficit projectionsÛÓone in August and one last weekÛÓby the Congressional Budget Office and the Office of Management and Budget have made it vastly more difficult for Clinton to fulfill his spending plans while meeting his goal of cutting the deficit in half by the end of his first term.</br></br>Clinton said at his first post-election news conference that lie still intended to propose a tax package "consistent with what I recommended in the campaign....Û