Bush likely to highlight tax relief

President Bush will likely highlight tax relief and Social Security reform when he retools his economic platform for an intense month of campaigning in August, Republicans say.

The initiatives will be aimed at small investors and young voters worried about their retirement savings and touted as ways to strengthen the economy, according to Republicans close to the administration.

“The message will be that Bush is for wealth creation and (Democrat John) Kerry is for wealth redistribution,” said Stephen Moore of the Club for Growth, a group that raises money for conservative political candidates.

The president is expected to roll out the polished themes in August, when he will be campaigning nonstop in the run-up to the Republican National Convention at the end of the month.

Phil Singer, spokesman for the Kerry campaign, charged that the president has lacked ideas for helping the economy. “This is four years too late,” he said Thursday.

Much of the election-year debate on the economy has centered on Bush’s three tax cuts.

The president contends they have spurred the economy back into a healthy expansion, while Kerry says they have bloated the deficit and are skewed toward the wealthy.

The Democratic presidential contender would roll back the cuts for Americans making more than $200,000 a year and use the money to improve health care.

Bush might also emphasize plans for broad reform of the tax code, some conservatives said, but others said it would be costly to tackle that at the same time as Social Security.

Moore and other conservatives want Bush to make Social Security reform a centerpiece of the economic agenda. Although Bush campaigned in 2000 on allowing private accounts for Social Security, he has given it little attention in this campaign.

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Some Republicans were concerned about making Social Security reform a core issue because it would involve big upfront costs, stoking criticism of the record budget deficit.

But Bush-Cheney campaign spokesman Terry Holt said there is no question Bush will campaign on Social Security reform.

“He is going to champion ways to make Social Security more secure for the future,” he said.

Some conservatives are pressing the campaign to push for full elimination of the dividend tax.

Such investor-targeted tax cuts are sure to prompt charges by Kerry that Bush is favoring the wealthy.

Republican political consultant Scott Reed said there will be proposals for tax relief aimed at “easing the burden on young married couples and on small-businessmen and women.”