It just wasn’t even close. In a debate sponsored by the New York Software Industry Association, Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform got lost a debate against former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt about which presidential candidate would be better for the IT industry. Hundt supported Senator John F. Kerry and Norquist supported President George W. Bush.
Norquist was totally unprepared for the debate. He relied on his static view that all industries benefit from low taxes, fewer regulations and a hands-off government. Unfortunately, Norquist didn’t seem to know about many of the intricacies of tech policy.
Hundt knew much more about the subject. I was impressed that he didn’t brag about working with Al Gore to create the Internet – he obviously didn’t, but under Hundt’s visionary leadership of the FCC the Information Society flourished.
With the able help of Moderator Jonathan Alter of Newsweek, and questioners Jonathan Krim of the Washington Post, Paul McDougall of InformationWeek and Time Race of the New York Times, the following positions were taken:
— Self-employed Tech Workers – Kerry offers them affordable healthcare plans. Bush will cut their taxes.
— Immigration & Outsourcing – Norquist supports bringing in more foreign workers using H1-B Visas. Hundt talked about Kerry’s plan to eliminate tax breaks for sending jobs overseas.
— Industrial Policy – Norquist tried to tag Democrats as supporters of “industrial policy” and “command-and-control” economic policy. In my opinion, Hundt didn’t do a good enough job proving Norquist wrong. While Clinton/Gore may have supported some proactive policies, they were also very strong advocates of the private sector leading the economy and technology industries.
— Internet Tax Moratorium – Norquist supports keeping it. Hundt ridiculed the Bush Administration for not eliminating the 3% excise tax on telecommunications.
Larry Greenmeier wrote up this summary, A Left-Right Technology Debate for InformationWeek.