Not A Class Act

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It was a take-no-prisoners document designed to embarrass Republicans, and some Senate Democrats would have loved to embrace it. But George Bush, burdened by his many flip-flops, promised to veto any such bill. White House officials privately conceded that the veto threat was mostly bluff: Bush could not afford to shut down the government again. Still the gambit worked on Senate Democratic Leader George Mitchell, who joined his G.O.P. counterpart, Robert Dole, to fight off amendments from left and right.

The Senate debate was marked by sharp exchanges from both sides of the aisle. Democrats cheered when Maryland's Barbara Mikulski declared that "the middle class have no more to give. The poor have nothing to give. So, let's go and get it from those who've got it." To Republican applause, G.O.P. Senator Bill Armstrong of Colorado proclaimed that "raising taxes in the face of a recession is a hare-brained idea."

In the end, 31 Democrats joined 23 Republicans in approving a plan, favored by the Administration, that would pare projected Medicare spending by $51.6 billion over five years, raise taxes on gasoline, liquor and cigarettes and leave income tax rates unchanged. A House-Senate conference committee then set to work ironing out the glaring differences between the two proposals by Oct. 24, when a short-term resolution to keep the government running expires. The Democrats predict that the final plan will probably contain a gas tax increase, combined with an increase in the top marginal tax rate to 31%. Fearing the cost of continued deadlock, Bush is likely to swallow his lips and sign the bill.

All the self-congratulatory bombast on Capitol Hill could not mask the fact that no matter what compromise is eventually reached, the middle class will end up footing most of the bill. Democrats tried to camouflage that unpleasant reality by larding their proposals with provisions that appeared to soak the rich but would only add $60.4 billion to the government's coffers over five years. Republicans attempted to disguise it by denouncing even small increases in income taxes for the wealthiest citizens as an attempt to foist higher rates on everyone. Such maneuvers missed the point: both parties are responsible for the current mess.

Democrats are fond of blaming Reaganomics for the fiscal debacle without acknowledging that they voted during the '80s to raise regressive Social Security payroll taxes 30% while preserving such loopholes as the tax exemption on inherited capital gains. That exemption alone costs the Treasury $5 billion a year and benefits mostly wealthy heirs. The fiscal prestidigitation has not abated: the Rostenkowski plan would have socked it to middle-income families by delaying inflation adjustments for a year. That step was needed because the House scrapped a 9 1/2 cents-a-gallon hike on gasoline that would not only raise $45 billion but also encourage conservation and help the environment.