Doesn't anybody here want a juicy tax cut?

摘要

It should be an easy sell: a 10 percent cut in federal income tax rates for every American. And at first glance, it is. As GOP pollster Jim McLaughlin notes, if the question is asked alone, without alternative choices, up to 68 percent of respondents approve. But it is dawning on Republican leaders that most Americans—including most Republicans—don't look at tax cuts in isolation (On Politics, Page 26). Polls consistently show about two thirds of Americans saying they would rather pay off the federal debt or shore up Social Security. In today's politics of prosperity, prudence outsells self-indulgence. When Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott took the GOP's favorite agenda item out for a spin at a Michigan town hall meeting last week, even the mostly Republican audience was underwhelmed.