John Edwards and Jack Kemp both agree that poverty is one of the most important domestic issues facing the United States. They just have different ideas on how to solve the problem.
The two former vice presidential candidates discussed poverty Monday in a town hall-type format in front of a crowd of more than 100 students, faculty, and members of the community at the Elizabeth Price Kenan Theatre. The event was part of a series of debates and discussions on poverty through Edwards’ Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Both Edwards, a former North Carolina senator and 2004 Democrat vice presidential candidate, and Kemp, a former secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, 1996 Republican vice president candidate, and former member of the U.S. House, focused on tax issues and other means to ease poverty throughout the hour-long discussion.
“I think there is a hunger in this country for big ideas and where this country needs to go,” Edwards said. “People are looking for a big vision.”
During the discussion, Edwards advocated a plan to tax capital income the same as wages, calling it a fair and right thing to do. He also advocated an increase in the minimum wage, saying that the current rate is a “national embarrassment.”
Edwards said his plans to reduce poverty by increasing taxes were a way to “level the playing field.”
“We don’t treat wealth differently than work,” Edwards said. “Taxing one differently than we tax the other doesn’t make sense.”
Kemp disagreed with Edwards’ proposals on tax policy. In disagreeing with Edwards’ approach of higher taxes for wealthier individuals, Kemp said that higher taxes force some individuals to set up offshore accounts to avoid paying taxes. He said taxes for the upper class should be such that it still provides output for those individuals to where they will continue to pay taxes.
Kemp discussed President Bush’s tax cuts, saying that the government was still getting more revenue than ever. He also said the federal government should stop increasing interest rates to slow down the economy.
“I don’t know what tax reform should look like,” Kemp said. “However, I think the tax rate should be reduced across the board until you begin to lose revenues.”
Kemp also dismissed Edwards’ plan to make capital income the same as wages. He said it had been tried before and triggered the recession in 1988.
“It is not ordinary income,” Kemp said. “You are taking a risk.”
Edwards, however, repeated campaign themes that he touted during his own presidential bid and his run with Sen. John Kerry for president in 2004, claiming that there were two groups in America — the haves and the have-nots. He said the tax code worsened the problem.
“It feels inherently wrong to most people,” Edwards said about not taxing capital income the same as wages.
While Edwards and Kemp disagreed on tax issues, there were some aspects to poverty solutions where they agreed. Both advocated the use of earned income tax credits and the creation of real assets. They each touched on examples of individuals on welfare who are apprehensive about getting a job because the current system would take away some benefits such as a welfare check, food stamps, and health insurance.
Shannon Blosser ([email protected]) is a staff writer with the John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy in Chapel Hill.