GOP Tax Cut Under Fire

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Bill Archer's just-announced $135 billion tax cut proposal is taking heavy fire from all directions. While the Ways and Means chairman delivers on GOP promises to cut taxes for investors, mainly through a sharp reduction in the top rate on capital gains taxes, Democrats say the plan is far too generous to the wealthy and would hurt both the middle class and the working poor. The White House is irked by restrictions Archer would place on President Clinton's proposed $1,500 college tax credit and the $10,000 deduction he wanted for post-secondary education, changes that among other things would make it more difficult for the lower-income families that really need the assistance to get it. Under the capital gains proposal, the tax would be lowered from 28 to 20 percent for people in high income brackets, and to 10 percent for those making less than $41,200 per year. A coalition of Indian tribes is attacking a provision which would impose a tax on gambling casinos and other commercial enterprises on American Indian lands. On that front, Archer may want to consult with New York GOP Governor Pataki, who recently gave up an attempt to tax business activities of the Seneca Indians after months of protests that included bonfires that closed highways passing through the reservation in rural upstate New York.