A Collection of GOP Remarks on Dole's Record of Increasing Taxes
Bob Dole
Tell them Anything:
"Telling people what you think they want to hear just to win their votes
is a very old idea."
Newt Gingrich
Tax Collector Dole:
In 1984, when Dole suggested that a tax increase could be necessary to
reduce the deficit, Gingrich called Dole "the tax collector for the
welfare state." [WP, 11/19/84]
Leader of the Welfare Wing: Gingrich described Dole as one of the "first-rate" leaders of "a welfare wing of the Republican Party that sees itself as running essentially a cheaper and narrower version of the Democratic welfare state." [WP, 11/19/84]
Dole-Proof GOP: In 1984, Gingrich urged the GOP platform committee to oppose tax increases in a way that would be "Dole-proof." Gingrich: "[Dole] is saying, the Democrats raise taxes a little and we raise taxes a little." [BNA, 8/14/84; NYT, 8/14/84]
Not Conservative: In August 1982 Newt Gingrich said of the tax increase, "Let me just say that in the Senate Finance Committee report, page 414 and 415, it says over five years it'll raise $228 billion dollars... I think that this clearly, though, would be the largest tax increase in a recession since Herbert Hoover in 1931 and 1932. I think it is a terrible thing to do; I think it will make the economy sicker, and I think to raise taxes without first having gotten every dime of spending cuts is fundamentally not conservative." [MacNeil/ Lehrer Newshour", 8/10/82]
Pre-Reagan Republican: Gingrich, on NBC’s “Meet the Press” in 1991, called Dole a “pre-Reagan Republican.” Gingrich defined this as being more interested in cutting spending than cutting taxes. Gingrich said Dole placed a “higher value” on going home than on “fighting for tax cuts and fighting for economic growth.” [WP, 12/2/91]
Jack Kemp
Never Met a Tax He Didn’t Like:
During the 1988 presidential race, Kemp attacked Dole on taxes, saying,
“Bob Dole never met a tax he didn't hike. . . When Bob Dole talks about
leadership for the future, he’s the man who led the fight for five major
tax increases in the past five years.” [St. Petersburg Times, 2/11/88]
Largest Tax Increase: Kemp called the 1982 tax increase, which Dole supported, “the largest tax increase ever passed in American history - about $1600 for every man, woman, and child.” [St. Petersburg Times, 2/11/88]
Secret Plan to Raise Taxes: Referring to a Dole created blue-ribbon commission to recommend how to balance the budget, Kemp said during the 1988 presidential race, “I am convinced that Senator Dole has a secret plan to raise taxes on the American People. That would totally frustrate the Republican message that we are the low-tax party. . .[Dole] is going to allow the commission to do a study, endorse it, and say, ‘Hey, this is not my tax increase. This is the commission’s tax increase.’ That is what he did on the Social Security Commission.” [AP, 2/14/88]
If You Want Taxes Vote For Dole: The Associated Press wrote in 1988 that “Kemp said frequently [during the campaign] that if the voters wanted to raise taxes, they should vote for either Bush or another rival, Sen. Bob Dole.” [AP, 12/19/88]
Largest Tax in Recent Years: In February 1994, the Jack Kemp’s "Empower America" group called Dole’s 1982 tax bill "the largest tax increase in recent years." [Empower America Reality Check, 2/24/94]
Voted for Tax Increases: During the South Carolina debate Buchanan said Dole “has voted for tax increases repeatedly. . .” [CNN, 2/29/96]
Pat Buchanan
Biggest Tax in Eighties:
Also during the debate Buchanan said to Dole, “You voted for the biggest
tax increase in the Reagan years, 1982 and 1983. . . [Dole responded
that the tax was sent by Reagan] Now, Bob, you voted for that 1982 tax
increase; you’re right. And Reagan said it was the worst mistake. . .
You also voted in 1990 for that gigantic tax increase that I opposed. Do
you think you made a mistake in those two votes for the largest tax
increases in history up to that time?” [CNN, 2/29/96]
Biggest Tax in History: The 1983 Social Security tax increase came up during the New Hampshire debate, where Buchanan said to Dole, “You raised Social Security taxes more - the biggest tax increase in America’s history.” [WMUR, CNN, 2/15/96]
Steve Forbes
Biggest Tax in History:
“In 1988 Senator Dole said he saw no need to raise taxes, yet two years
later he was leading the biggest tax increase, one of the biggest tax
increases in American history.” [WMUR/CNN, 2/15/96]
Raise Taxes and Cut Benefits: During the same debate, Forbes said of the 1983 Social Security tax hike, “That 1983 rescue of the Social Security system, Senator [Dole], was very typical of the way Washington solves problems. They raise taxes. . . they raise taxes and they cut benefits.” [WMUR/CNN, 2/15/96]
Some Loophole Closing: Forbes on Dole’s tax increases over the years: “Yeah, some loophole closures. Raising taxes on Social Security - some loophole closing. Raising taxes on incomes of working Americans - some loophole closing. . . You voted for tax increases across the board. . . When no one’s looking, you vote for tax increases.” [CNN, 2/29/96]
Lamar Alexander
You Raised Taxes:
From the South Carolina GOP debate, “Senator Dole, . . . while I was
keeping taxes low, you raised taxes. Why don’t you say that, if you want
to talk about records?” [CNN, 2/29/96]
From the same debate, Alexander discussed his tax ad against Dole, saying “I thought a comparison ad was useful to point out the $320 billion in taxes you raised between 1982 and 1990. And here is a list of them.” [CNN, 2/29/96]
Phil Gramm
1990 Tax a Bad Deal:
On the 1990 budget summit, Gramm said of Dole, “You don’t have to have a
crystal ball to know who among us will stand on principle and who will
cut a deal. . . We both tried to negotiate a good deal for George Bush.
But when it came to a vote in the Senate, it was a bad deal on the 1990
budget summit agreement. I broke with the president, I broke with Bob
Dole, and I voted no.” [CNN, 1/13/96]
Pete DuPont
Refused to Sign Anti-Tax Pledge In a 1988 GOP presidential primary
debate, candidate Pete DuPont thrust Grover Norquist's Taxpayer
Protection Pledge into Bob Dole's face and insisted Dole sign the pledge
not to raises taxes. Dole was the only Republican candidate refusing to
sign the anti tax pledge. Days later, Dole was a nearly 10 point loser
in the New Hampshire primary. [SD Union Tribune, 2/18/88]
Grover Norquist
Would Cheerfully Raise Taxes:
In January, 1993, ATR president Grover Norquist wrote: "One wonders,
however, if Bob Dole, one of the negotiators of the 1990 tax increase,
can be a credible leader of the Reagan coalition. Dole never understood
the low-tax, pro-growth strategy of Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp. He
shares Ross Perot's obsession with the deficit and would cheerfully walk
back into a negotiating room to raise taxes in return for promised
spending cuts." [Amer. Spectator, 1/93]
Stephen Moore
GOP Would Like to Forget Their Own Candidate:
“As Republican strategists prepare to skewer [President] Clinton in the
fall campaign for enacting ‘the largest tax hike in world history,’ they
would just as soon forget that their own candidate helped bully through
Congress the next three largest peacetime tax increases in history.”
[Stephen Moore of the Cato Institute in the April 8, 1996 issue of
National Review]
Arthur Laffer
'82 Tax Obnoxious:
In 1982 supply-sider Arthur Laffer said of Reagan signing on to Dole’s
tax increase, "This is not the same man we elected (Reagan)... This tax
package is obnoxious." [Time, 8/30/82]
Dole's Tax Record
Remember when Newt Gingrich labeled Bob Dole the "Tax Collector for the Liberal Welfare State"? I do! Mr. Dole is deceptive (what's new) trying to convince America that he's conservative, and for shrinking taxes and the federal government. Let's look at the facts.
In 1982, Dole voted for over $230 billion in tax increases. This included the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (TEFRA), the biggest tax hike in history up to that time, $214 billion in its first five years, or $2,562 per household. As chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Dole was keey to convincing the Reagan White House to go along with the massive tax hike. Without TEFRA, Dole said at the time, "the deficits wouldn't go down." The deficit soon shot to record heights anyway.
In 1983, Dole went along with rolling Social Security tax increases, a seies of automatic tax increases totalling $58 billion in the first five years, or $691 per household.
In 1984, Finance Chairman Dole steamrolled through the $132 billion Deficit Reduction Act (DEFRA), totalling $890 per household.
In 1985, Senate Majority Leader Dole voted for the $13 billion Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act (COBRA) bill totalling $150 per household.
In 1986, Mr. Dole voted to increase capital-gains taxes in a trade-off which reduced marginal income tax rates, all part of the "revenue neutral" Tax Reform Act. He also supported nearly $23 billion in other assorted tax increases. Gee, thanks Bob!!!
In 1987, Minority Leader Dole backed $79 billion in tax increases over five years.
In 1988, Dole voted for $30 billion in new taxes targeted at Medicare beneficiaries when he supported the catastrophic healthcare bill. The bill was so redundant, it was repeated the next year.
In 1989, he voted for a $24 billion tax hike included in the budget, or $258 per household.
In 1990, Bob once again supported the "newest" largest tax increase in history. Remember George Bush's "read my lips" pledge? It resulted in $137 billion income-tax rate increase on the eve of a recession. Even Newt voted against it.
In 1991 and 1992, he supported tax increases totalling another $14 billion.
Then there are the times Dole supported tax increases and failed to get them signed into law, for example.
In 1983, Finance Chairman Dole trial ballooned a broad-based energy tax, a 5% income-tax surcharge and increased corporate income taxes. Said the Congressional Quarterly, "These ideas failed to garner much support, so Dole eventually advanced a smaller, $13.4 billion tax increase."
Rep. Dole voted against President Kennedy's income-tax cuts of 1963 and in favor of the 10% income-tax surcharge of 1968. The lone exceptions were Dole's votes for the Reagan tax cuts of 1981 and his opposition to Clinton's 1993 tax increase.
In 1995, Dole continued to pull a "Bill Clinton" waffling back and forth on his reluctant support of the $245 billion tax cuts spelled out in the "Contract with America." He seems to flip sides back in favor when Newt insisted the Senate was "honor bound" by the $245 billion. Dole's "Bill Clinton-like" positioning can be seen in his own words.
In March 1995 he told the New York Times Magazine, "If you're looking for ideology -- well, there's Ronald Ragan....Then you see how the debt went up during those yars." The "been there too long" Dole can't seem to bring himself to pin the blame where it belongs. Where is his anger over the decades of "Big Brother" federal government's waste and corruption? That's right folks, it doesn't exist. In 1982 he told the Washington Post, "I never really understood that supply-side business."
Reprinted from April issue of 'Media Bypass'
Authored by Troy Underhill
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