Gingrich Offers Plan to Trim Taxes $1 Trillion Over 10 Years

House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), in a speech Thursday to the libertarian Cato Institute, proposed a boost for Social Security and as much as $1 trillion of tax relief over the next 10 years.

Gingrich suggested using $650 billion to bolster Social Security while targeting $1 trillion for tax relief, including elimination of the marriage tax penalty, further reduction in the capital gains tax, phasing out the estate tax and allowing the self-employed to fully deduct the cost of health care programs.

“You cannot afford to leave $1.6 trillion in Washington, D.C., where they will spend it,” Gingrich said, referring to an estimate released Wednesday by the Congressional Budget Office of the federal budget surplus. That report said the government would finish this year with $63 billion more than it spent and generate surpluses totaling $1.6 trillion over the coming decade, about $1 trillion more than it predicted in March.

The White House and congressional Democrats have cautioned the Republicans against crafting tax policy on the basis of projected surpluses that could evaporate with an unexpected change in the economy.

President Clinton early this year proposed that the surplus be set aside until the administration and Congress work out a plan to avert the potential long-term bankruptcy of Social Security.