Stiffen penalties for employer interference in labor-organizing campaigns. Use targeted tax cuts to encourage entrepreneurs to offer their employees health insurance and pension plans. Double amount of estate-tax exemption. Neither candidate addresses the systemic problems sparking double-digit premium hikes for small companies. Few if any substantive differences between the candidates.
Differences largely are about means rather than ends.
As in most matters, Bush favors free-market solutions, while Gore relies more on government assistance and incentives to accomplish specific policy initiatives. Entrepreneurs determined to get the federal government off their backs will probably support Bush. Bush's plan would give more Americans a tax cut, while Gore's rewards specific behaviors. Gore's estate-tax proposal would exempt most small companies from the levy. The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.