The Nation - Edwards announces 'tax the rich' plan - The Democrat wants to repeal Bush's cuts -- and raise the rates.

The three leading contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination are promising that, if they win the White House, they will repeal or let expire the tax cuts for wealthier voters that were enacted under President Bush.

In Iowa Wednesday, former Sen. John Edwards went even further by proposing additional tax hikes on capital gains, hedge funds and corporations to help pay for new tax breaks for lower-income families.

Edwards' plan, which dovetails with the populist tone of his campaign, would reverse the Bush-era trend toward taxing investment income more lightly than wages.

"It's time to stop promoting the wealth of the wealthy and to start making sure that every American who works hard has the chance to move up the economic ladder," Edwards said in a speech in Des Moines.

Edwards' proposal may be a crowd-pleaser for Democratic primary voters who object to Bush's big tax cuts.

But it may be a politically risky position for anyone heading into a general election contest against Republicans, who portray Democrats as incorrigible tax raisers.

Matt Bennett, vice president of the centrist Democratic group Third Way, said the challenge for the Democrats would be to explain why they did not want to extend Bush's tax cuts, which are due to expire during the next president's term. "How do you respond to the charge that they support the biggest tax increase in history?" he asked.

One Democratic strategist who is neutral in the campaign but did not want to be named criticizing Edwards' tax plan warned: "If we have an election where the dialogue is about whether or not taxes should be increased, it's not a good dialogue for us."

Edwards' speech, which laid out the most detailed tax policy of any leading candidate, reflected his efforts to cast his campaign as one of "bold ideas" and to court the party's left wing with ambitious and liberal policies. Though he places third in many national polls of the Democratic field, analysts say his initiatives have helped shape the campaign debate on Iraq, poverty and healthcare, pressuring front-runners Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York to offer initiatives of their own or to tack to the left.