A guide to voting your pocketbook

Who'll help you more: Bush or Gore? Compare and decide for yourself.

or some people, knowing the social agenda of the presidential candidates is all they need to cast their votes. Others prefer to vote their pocketbooks. That's decidedly trickier. Why? Because the budgets Al Gore and George W. Bush have described are anything but simple. So we've tried to get to the heart of their strategies on money issues. You may find yourself in several of the categories on this page, but you'll get a clear sense of what each candidate plans to offer.

If you're worried about paying for education:
Bush favors school vouchers, but only for students whose schools are failing according to state standards. The vouchers could be used at either public or private schools. He also suggests setting up a $500 million fund to reward schools that improve student performance. For college, he proposes raising the contribution limits to education IRAs from $500 to $5,000.
Gore opposes school vouchers but believes in public school choice and charter schools. He, too, would establish a $500 million fund to help states improve schools that need work. Gore would establish tax-free college education accounts, similar to 401(k) accounts, to which individuals and their employers could contribute as much as $2,500 a year. The money would not be taxed on withdrawal, plus he would make $10,000 in secondary education tuition and fees tax-deductible.

If you want to cut your tax bill:
Bush's cuts would primarily benefit higher-income taxpayers. He proposes using the government surplus to reduce income tax rates: The 36% and 39.6% brackets would fall to 33%, the 28% and 31% brackets to 25%, and the 15% bracket to 10%. He would reduce the "marriage penalty" and phase out the estate tax. For lower-income people, he would double the $500-per-child tax credit.
Gore proposes more targeted cuts aimed at middle- and low-income Americans, including an expansion of the earned-income tax credit. He would reduce the marriage penalty, although by less than Bush would. Gore does not propose lower estate taxes.

If you're concerned about Social Security:
Bush would maintain current benefits for those in or near retirement. His new Social Security system would include personal investment accounts. Into these, workers could elect to put some proportion of their payroll taxes, which they could then invest in stocks and bonds.
Gore would use the budget surplus to pay down the national debt, extending the life of Social Security through (he says) at least 2050. His system also would include additional retirement accounts, similar to 401(k)s, in which the contributions of people making less than $15,000 a year ($30,000 for couples) would be matched by government funds.

If you have minor children:
Bush proposes doubling the $500-per-child tax credit. He would increase state funding for child care but let each state develop its own program -- much as he's done in Texas, where child-care spending has risen by more than $350 million. He also would increase the tax benefits for people who adopt.
Gore, too, favors more state funding, but in addition he would offer working families a refundable tax credit to cover up to half the cost of child care. Low-income families who pay no taxes would get $2,000-plus a year in support. Also, he's proposing Social Security credits for stay-at-home parents.

If you're worried about health care expenses:
Bush proposes tax credits of up to $1,000 per person or $2,000 per family for those who don't have health insurance through their employers. He would make the premiums on long-term-care insurance totally deductible. And he believes Medicare recipients should have greater choice of private-sector health plans, some of which would cover prescription drugs.
Gore favors tax credits to cover up to one-fourth of the cost of health insurance for those who aren't covered through their jobs. He proposes a $3,000 credit for at-home caregivers. And he supports a broad Medicare prescription drug benefit that would cover half the cost of medication (up to $5,000), with no deductibles. He also promises affordable health insurance for every child by 2005.

Contributing Editor Jean Chatzky is an editor at large for Money magazine. Write: Finance, USA WEEKEND, 1000 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, Va. 22229 or finance@usaweekend.com.

Photo illustration: PAM SMITH for USA WEEKEND
Photo Credit: Bush by Tim Dillon, USA TODAY; Gore by Jim Bourg, REUTERS