9/08/00 4:30 p.m.
Tax Time
A tax-cut pitch tailored to women.

By NR's John J. Miller & Ramesh Ponnuru

eorge W. Bush doesn't often make the classic supply-side argument that cutting marginal tax rates makes it profitable to work more. Perhaps he should make the argument that cutting average tax rates makes it possible to work less.

Republican strategist Ed Gillespie, who has done stints as communications director for Dick Armey and for the Republican National Committee, has been arguing for years that his party should promote tax cuts not just in terms of money but also in terms of time. He points out that in a typical two-earner household, taxes take out about as much as the lower earner brings in. If taxes were cut, maybe that second earner could spend more time at home. Gillespie thinks that pitching tax cuts in this way would appeal to a lot of women juggling family and work.

Certainly the "time bind," as it's been called, is taken seriously as a political issue by Democrats. The Family and Medical Leave Act was one of the administration's most popular accomplishments. President Clinton mentioned it in his convention address as an example of real family values (the kind, we guess, that are compatible with cheating on your wife). Al Gore, in his convention speech, made a couple of remarks about "families who are struggling with things that money can't measure — like trying to find a little more time to spend with your children. . ."

The Bush campaign has calculated, reasonably, that the public is more interested in soft social issues such as education than in hard economic ones. If that's the case, it may be time to take Gillespie's advice.

PR Coup
Puerto Rican statehood activists have shown no quarter in their quest to make the island America's 51st state. Now they're trying to get a quarter — literally.

In House testimony yesterday, a member of the Puerto Rican legislature urged Congress to have the U.S. Mint issue commemorative quarters for all U.S. territories and the District of Columbia — just as it is currently putting out quarters over the next several years honoring each of the states individually. (There is currently a bill to accomplish this: H.R. 5010 was introduced by Alabama Republican Spencer Bachus, and supported by fellow GOPers Mike Castle of Delaware and Jim Leach of Iowa, as well as Democrat Maxine Waters of California.)

That would mean special coins for Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Marianas, the Virgin Islands, and D.C. "The above said islands, as well as the District of Columbia, have a rich cultural heritage that deserves to be revealed to the rest of the United States citizens," said Puerto Rican senator Kenneth McClintock.

This raises some interesting possibilities — maybe D.C.'s version could feature a bust of Marion Barry.

But it also demands that we pause and remind ourselves that Puerto Rico isn't a state and shouldn't be treated like one. If Puerto Ricans want coins of their own, they have a perfectly good option: independence.