The presidential election hinged very much on economic issues, and both candidates focused on economic matters in differing degrees. This discussion involved several themes, notably rebuilding the weak economy and addressing the issue of the deficit at the same time. Whether this is even possible or not is uncertain. A theme in the Democratic candidates' campaigning was a change in tax policy, and here again there were several specific strands to this theme. The candidate called for increased taxes on the wealthy and reduced taxes on the middle class. He called for the use of the investment tax credit as part of an overall tax reform package. The tax policies promoted by Bill Clinton are reminiscent of the tax policies of John F. Kennedy in 1960, and the consequences for Kennedy were business mistrust and uncertainty such as is already being seen by Clinton for his new proposals. The investment tax credit in particular was suggested by Kennedy and was feared by the business community at the time because it had no idea how this would be applied or whether it would be of benefit or not. Segments of business today have called for an investment tax credit, but this does not mean that business is altogether happy about Bill Clinton's version of this idea. A comparison of the present situation with that of the Kennedy Administration may be instructive for determining the efficacy of the present proposal.
The investment tax credit was considered an old idea when it was raised by Clinton during the campaign. It was referred to as "the Democratic favorite business incentive" (Gleckman, 31) and as part of a tax program loaded with "sham and evasion" (Rauch, 23). Clinton intends the investment tax credit to help with needed infrastructure investment and also believes that this will help the economy, but critics charge that this is not the case: "All economists regard investment as the key to long-term economic growth. But if inf...