From: AdmrlLocke@aol.com Sent: Monday, January 24, 2000 12:55 AM To: undisclosed-recipients: ; Subject: GrammNet: Forbes--Reagan's Heir GrammNet Issue 1/24/00.2 Dear Friend of Liberty, First let me make a correction: the following editorial comes from New Hampshire's Weirs Times newspaper. In an earlier GrammNet message I indicated a different paper and I apologize for my error. Next, I'd like to take a moment to remind you about Steve Forbes' positive, conservative program for beginning to return the federal government to the limits set in the Constitution under principles articulated in the Declaration of Independence: 1. Forbes on Taxes. Forbes will scrap the entire current Internal Revenue Code and replace it with a simple, fair, single-rate tax known as the "flat-tax," a term coined by Nobel-Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman. Under Forbes' plan you pay no tax on income up to $13,000 ($26,000 if you're married); he shields an additional $5000 of your income for each of your children. After that Forbes' plan works even more easily: you pay17% of your income above the shielded amount. Period. No loopholes, no special-interest provisions, no need for accountants and attorneys (sorry fellow tax-practitioners!) or shoeboxes full of receipts. Under Forbes' plan, then, a family of four doesn't start paying income tax until their income exceeds $36,000, and then at the relatively low rate of 17%. The Forbes plan will also eliminate the marriage penalty, the jobs-destroying capital gains tax and the federal estate (inheritance) tax--following the principle of "no taxation without representation" as Steve likes to say. 2. Forbes on Our Right To Life. Forbes supports the pro-life position 100 percent. He will chose a pro-life running mate and pro-life justices. Forbes actually put his money where his mouth is, using his influence in New Jersey to help pass a ban on partial-birth abortions over the veto of Governor Christine Todd Whitman. 3. Forbes on Our Right to Bear Arm. Forbes opposes all proposals, Democrat or Republican, to increase gun-control. He points out that we already have 10,000 gun-control laws in America and they're not being enforced. 4. Forbes on Education. Forbes believes that you--not federal or state bureaucrats--should control your children's education. You should be able to remove your children from any school you deem to be a failure. The goal is parental choice. 5. Forbes on Medical Care. Forbes believe that you--not government or HMO bureaucrats--should control your medical care. He supports medical savings accounts, which he uses successfully at Forbes magazine to allow employees to get good care at affordable rates. 6. Social Security. Taking a bold position, Forbes supports your right to control your own retirement funds. By implementing a privatization plan designed by the Cato Institute, Forbes will remove your social security funds from the politicians and bureaucrats in Washington and restore control to you. With such bold ideas to restore your rights to life, liberty and property from federal government infringement, it's no wonder that the writer below sees Steve Forbes as the heir to Ronald Reagan's optimistic, commonsense conservatism. Forbes remains the one candidate who can unite both economic and social conservatives--the only way we will avoid nominating another Big Government Republican who will do half the liberal Democrats' dirty work for them, and elect a true conservative who can begin a return to the American republic created by the Constitution. Sincerely, David B. Levenstam, CPA, MT, MA Forbes in 2000! GrammNet is an independent newsletter, not affiliated with Senator Gramm. To subscribe to GrammNet, email me at AdmrlLocke@aol.com, with a message to the effect that you'd like to subscribe. GrammNet back issues available at http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/3390/ Steve Forbes web page (Forbes 2000) at http://www.forbes2000.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------EDI TORIAL IN THE WEIRS TIMES NEWSPAPER, NEW HAMPSHIRE STEVE FORBES IS TRUE HEIR TO REAGAN LEGACY; HIS FLAT TAX PLAN IS BETTER FOR EVERYONE Listening to Steve Forbes speak at a recent meeting at the Chase House in Meredith, we came away more convinced than ever that Forbes is the true heir to Ronald Reagan and is indeed capable of leading our nation to a new birth of freedom. His optimism is infectious and he is deeply committed to freedom around the world and in both our personal and economic lives, just as Reagan was. He is the candidate best suited to carrying on the Reagan agenda of smaller government, lower taxes and an end to stifling regulation and control by a bloated federal bureaucracy. We were grateful for his recognition just prior to his speech and his comment that the Weirs Times endorsement "set the stage for what happened with the Union Leader," the state's largest newspaper and a well-known national voice for conservatism which later endorsed him. And we are glad to see the recent focus among Republican candidates on the tax issue. It has come at the right time in the campaign for Forbes, who a few days later in Franklin summed up our feelings about the Bush and McCain tax plans when he said that his major opponents in the New Hampshire primary are starting to sound like Democrats. Close your eyes and listen to them, as Steve Forbes suggested, and you'd swear that it indeed is Al Gore and Bill Bradley talking. How can any Republican candidate even think of allowing the present tax system to survive? Taxpayers spend five billion hours a year filling out forms, wasting some $200 billion a year in filing taxes. Let's bury the beast, once and for all, and adopt a simple, fair plan which doesn't require any army of lawyers and accountants to help us file our tax returns! The Forbes plan is a model of simplicity and fairness. It calls for a 17 percent tax rate for everyone. There are $13,000 exemptions for each adult and $5,000 for each child, which means that a family of four with an income of $36,000 wouldn't owe a dime in taxes. And, despite what you hear about a flat tax being such a major benefit to those in higher income brackets, consider this: a study by professors Barry Selden of the University of Texas at Dallas and Roy Boyd of Ohio University projects that federal revenue would actually increase by 1.8 percent. That's because the loopholes used by higher income taxpayers would no longer be available, actually raising the effective tax rates for many who currently pay little or nothing in taxes due to their ability to manipulate the tax code to their benefit. We agree with Forbes that simply tinkering with our current tax system isn't enough and stand amazed that the other candidates are still talking about letting the beastly system survive. The bold approach that Steve Forbes has long advocated, a flat tax with generous personal allowances for families, is the best plan around and would usher in a new era of sustained growth and prosperity which would put the present good times to shame. We do know this. The Washington in-crowd doesn't like Steve Forbes. That's because his election would signal an end to the cozy relationship between the 67,000 lobbyists there and the United States Congress. And it would also signal an end to the influence Beltway insiders have over our national political life. That's one of the reasons the national news media has been ignoring the Forbes campaign. He is right to say that the national news media just wishes his campaign would disappear. A Forbes presidency would mean that power would no longer be concentrated in that small city. All of the pundits, reporters and long-winded know-it-alls who dominate the talk show circuit would be in the same boat as the lobbyists, out of power and having to find some real work to do for a change. Elect Steve Forbes. It will bring a breath of fresh air to our nation's capitol the likes of which has not been seen for many decades. Let's start it right here in New Hampshire and give him an election mandate which will sweep that city clean and give our nation that new birth of freedom the American people deserve. -- Robert M. Lawton, Publisher