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Politics : WHO IS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT IN 2004 -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (8667)	1/8/2004 4:49:34 PM
From: American Spirit	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10965

Kerry cites family in Iowa to attack rivals on tax cut By MARK SIEBERT Register Staff Writer 01/08/2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry turned to a Des Moines mother of five Wednesday to demonstrate how the tax policies of his Democratic opponents would hurt middle-class families. Angela Runkel, a 36-year-old nurse and reservist, has five children under age 17. She said she and her husband struggle to pay bills and put money in savings. "I need to buy groceries, but I also need to be able to put money away for their college funds," Runkel told reporters Wednesday in a conference call. Kerry said Runkel saved $2,200 last year because of the child tax credit, a credit he said Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt wanted to take away. Kerry said his support of middle-class tax cuts was a fundamental difference he has with the other front-running Democrats. "I want to cut taxes for middle-class families and make health care and education more affordable," Kerry said. "Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt want to increase the taxes of those middle-class families. That's their plan." Kerry contends Dean and Gephardt tax policies would end the child tax credit, lower the minimum tax threshold and reinstate the marriage penalty. That, he said, would cost a typical middle-class family with two children at least $2,000. "It's more than half a year of groceries and more than half a year of utility bills, including heat and water," he said. Both Dean and Gephardt support repealing tax cuts enacted under President Bush to pay for expanding health care and balancing the budget. In a radio debate on Tuesday, Dean fired back at Kerry, saying that tax cuts had actually increased taxes and fees at the state and local level.