Mayor Giuliani yesterday unveiled his Senate agenda, starting with cuts in the federal-income and capital-gains taxes – a position he said puts him at odds with Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Speaking to 450 women at a Long Island “Women for Giuliani” lunch, Giuliani said slashing taxes is the best way to spur economic growth, create jobs and reduce poverty.
“I believe the only way you’re really going to achieve that is by lowering the taxes that affect New York more than any place else,” Giuliani said, responding to question about his goals if elected to the Senate.
“If you lower the income tax and either lower or eliminate the capital gains tax, you’re going to leave a tremendous amount of money in New York that’s redistributed,” he added to applause.
Under attack from Clinton for not spelling out his stance on the issues, the mayor called his endorsement of tax cuts a “very big difference between my opponent and me about an issue, not personality.”
Clinton has not specifically called for reducing the federal-income-tax rates or capital-gains taxes.
The first lady favors a variety of “targeted tax cuts,” including making college tuition tax deductible up to $2,800 per family and a $3,000 tax credit for those who care for an elderly parent in their home.
Giuliani said his other priorities in Washington would be education reform and recapturing some of the estimated $15 billion in taxes paid by New Yorkers pay that is distributed to programs in other states.
Fielding questions from the audience for 45 minutes, Giuliani’s appearance at a catering hall in Mineola was Oprah-style. The mayor used a wireless microphone and spoke informally from the center of the room, surrounded by supporters – a kind of “Rudy in the Round.”
Meanwhile, Clinton – continuing to stress education – visited a middle school in Bensonhurst and John Dewey HS in Coney Island as part of the “Principal for a Day” program.
The first lady encouraged the high school students to register to vote when they turn 18 because she said some people want to exclude them from the democratic process.
“A lot of people want you to be turned off by politics. I mean this is not an accidental strategy,” Clinton said.
“There are people who really don’t want young people, people of color, people of different political beliefs, to vote because if you don’t, that’s all the better for them,” she said, without saying to whom she was referring.