Transmission & Distribution World

A: President Bush: We concentrated on individual tax relief that would allow taxpayers to keep, spend and save more of their own money. And, unlike other downturns in the business cycle, consumer spending has remained strong throughout the last few years. The tax relief we passed in 2003 has focused on enhancing investment for families and small businesses. The bill equalized capital gains and dividend tax rates at a lower rate of 15%, and accelerated business depreciation on investments. These steps have achieved real results. In 2000, before the relief came, business investment growth had dropped from 14% to less than 1%. But now it has grown for five consecutive quarters and in the most recent quarter was back up to an annualized growth rate of 12%.

One of the most important tools we have today for encouraging business investment in new technology and innovation is the Research and Experimentation Tax Credit. This is a proven tool for maintaining and enhancing America's technological edge. I have repeatedly called on the Congress to make this credit permanent, so businesses can formulate their long-term research plans with confidence. Congress recently extended the credit, which had expired earlier this year. My opponent, on the other hand, opposed extending the credit, singling it out for criticism. My opponent also has opposed efforts to reduce the tax burden and even now proposes to isolate the United States with the most burdensome tax system for companies competing internationally. His international tax changes will tilt the playing field against U.S. companies and in favor of companies based in other countries. I have an agenda based on reducing the costs of doing business in the United States by curbing regulatory costs, changing incentives for health care costs, ensuring a reliable energy supply, and making the tax relief permanent. My opponent's economic isolationism threatens the millions of jobs and billions of dollars in investment that foreign companies provide in the United States.

A: Senator Kerry: I will promote private sector investment, innovation, competition and the formation of new businesses. This requires a responsible fiscal policy, targeted tax cuts that reward long-term investments, and trade and regulatory policies that will enhance America's high-tech competitiveness. I will eliminate capital gains taxes for long-term investments in small businesses. Small entrepreneurial firms play a critical role in creating new jobs and commercializing new technologies. As new companies, they are less wedded to incremental improvements to existing products and services, but often have difficulty attracting capital because of the high degree of risk involved. I will exempt investments held for five years or more in small businesses. I will extend the Research and Experimentation Tax Credit, which provides a powerful incentive for companies to invest in R&D. Its effectiveness would be greatly increased if it were extended so that companies could rely on its existence. I will work with Congress to find a way to pay for extending the Research and Experimentation Tax Credit with the goal of making it permanent. I will reform or eliminate regulations that impede America's high-tech competitiveness, such as supporting the shifting of the emphasis of computer export controls from attempting to control widely available business computers to controlling the availability of classified software created for applications such as weapons development; using market-oriented performance-based and other mechanisms that encourage the development of innovative solutions to meet public goals such as environmental protection, rather than forcing prescriptive measures; ensuring that distributed energy resources can be reliably and affordably connected to the grid; ensuring that the Patent and Trademark Office has the resources it needs to review a growing number of new patent applications and issue high-quality patents by ending the diversion of patent fees. I will expand trade and open markets for U.S. goods and services abroad. I will vigorously crackdown on unfair trade practices, such as piracy or our intellectual property and China's discriminatory policies toward semiconductors and other technological products. I will end special tax breaks for moving jobs overseas, cut corporate taxes in the United States and cut the budget deficit in half while investing in priorities.

Under my plan, we will create high-tech, high-wage jobs with a national strategy for universal broadband. I will have a national broadband policy that will speed the deployment of this essential infrastructure, since the widespread adoption of broadband could add $500 billion to the U.S. economy, generate more than 1.2 million jobs, and transform the way we learn, work and deliver digital opportunity throughout the country. I will provide tax incentives to make broadband access universal. I will provide a 10% tax credit for investments in today's broadband technology in rural and inner city areas; ensure universal broadband for first responders by the end of 2006; expand the spectrum available for new broadband wireless services and first responders while raising $30 billion to fund science and technology innovation; promote private sector investment and competition in broadband; and encourage marketplace solutions to attract broadband providers to underserved regions. I will boost support for the physical sciences and engineering by increasing research investments in agencies such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and National Institutes of Health and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This funding will provide the foundations for economic growth and prosperity in the 21st century including: Additional investments in nanotechnology could lead to dramatic improvements in our ability to detect and treat cancer, a "lab on a chip" for defense against biological warfare and clean sources of energy that are competitive with fossil fuels. Increased investment is also needed in nanoelectronics-since the current generation of semiconductor technology is beginning to reach fundamental limits. Advanced manufacturing and new technology allowing U.S. companies to be more competitive, developing products more rapidly and more cost effectively. I will double the funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which would speed the adoption of new technology by small and medium-sized manufacturers-the backbone of our economy. In addition, I will restore funding for the Advanced Technology Program. I will encourage the development of information technology, which can lead to jobs and industries of the future and therefore support recommendations of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee that call for an increase in long-term IT research. More research is needed, for example, to make high-productivity information systems that are dependable, reliable and resistant to cyber attacks.