CAMPAIGN '96: KNOCK 'EM FLAT

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He calls this the most important election of the century. "Look," he says, "the purpose is not just to select a candidate to face Clinton. It's to choose a direction. That's why I'm in this--if only because I'm convinced that we can't win in '96 without a pro-growth vision of the kind I'm putting forth. If the party and the nominee adopt that, we'll win. If not, we won't."

In the universe he envisions, the tax system is only the first thing to go. Instead of entitlements, he prefers retirement accounts, medical savings accounts and "payments in kind" to welfare mothers, meaning "everything from food to medicine to diapers. Stuff that's hard for a mom to convert for substance abuse." Contrary to reports that he is intent on returning America to the gold standard, he says the gold standard is not a "perfect barometer" and if someone has a better one, "whether wampum, Snickers bars or seashells or whatever, I'll be ready to listen." When he talks about family values, it still all comes down to mortgage rates. "Economics and values are the same thing," he says. "The values we value are trust, thrift, a belief in progress and a belief that we are here to serve some higher purpose."

The heart of his fiscal crusade is his flat tax, a plan derided as "deja voodoo" by economists who blame Reagan's supply-side tax cuts for the explosion of the national debt. He has captured perfectly the fury Americans feel for a system they think treats them like suckers while the rich enjoy a secret tax code written just for them--notwithstanding that his flat tax could favor the rich even more effectively. But his appeal is not only to apparent fairness and simplicity, the allure of a tax return no bigger than a postcard. The plan is also a lethal attack on the whole "culture of Washington," which he proposes to starve to death. Convinced that cutting taxes will stimulate the economy, Forbes doesn't worry much about estimates that his plan might swell the deficit anywhere between $40 billion and $182 billion a year. He dwells instead on his belief that the flat tax would have an antibacterial effect: "Remove the code," he says, "and you remove the rationale for lobbyists."

By last week he could claim that he's already won the contest that matters, to the extent that "others are stealing my ideas." Just when President Clinton and Republicans in Congress admit they are unable to cut the budget through negotiations, Forbes arrives and proposes to do it by fiat. Now, says Jack Kemp, who was only one of the many voices last week calling for a brand-new tax system, "the whole debate is how low to have the tax-rate system, how fair it should be." The issue reached critical mass on Wednesday, when Gramm unveiled his own version of a flat tax and Kemp's commission, which Dole had charged with reviewing the tax code, issued its recommendations.