(03-10) 06:45 PST CHICAGO (AP) --

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said Wednesday he will ask Americans earning more than $200,000 a year to pay the taxes they paid under President Clinton and pledged to retain the Bush tax cuts for the middle class and even add to them.

Kerry, in remarks prepared for delivery by satellite to the executive council meeting of the AFL-CIO in Florida, said he will propose new middle-class tax credits to pay for health care and college tuition and establish a $50 billion fund to help states provide tax relief for state, local and property taxes for working families.

"I am going to ask America's wealthiest people -- those making over $200,000 a year -- to pay the same fair share they paid under Bill Clinton. Back then the rich got richer, but everyone else did too," he said. "By rolling back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest among us, we can start to restore fiscal responsibility and invest in education and health care for our people. We also need to shut the loopholes that force American workers to subsidize sending jobs overseas."

Kerry said the top 1 percent of taxpayers have received nearly 40 percent of the breaks from the Bush tax cuts while middle-class working people have seen their share of the tax burden rise and their incomes decrease. State and local property taxes have climbed in 32 states, he said, placing the value of what he called the "Bush Tax" at $3,500 or more.

"If this president wants to make this election about taxes after he's cut billions for billionaires and squeezed middle-class families, we're ready for that fight," he said.

The Massachusetts senator won the labor federation's endorsement last month and hopes to use labor's organizational muscle and money to boost his campaign. While labor's share of the work force has declined over the years, union members are reliable voters, with 26 percent of those casting ballots in the 2000 election coming from union households.

Kerry swept the four Southern states that elected delegates Tuesday and was returning to Washington after the speech to labor leaders to meet with Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor who had been one of Kerry's top rivals for the Democratic nomination. He was scheduled to meet Thursday with John Edwards, who left the campaign after the Super Tuesday elections of March 2.

Dean is prepared to endorse Kerry, campaign for him and ask his own contributors to donate to Kerry's campaign, said officials familiar with the meeting. Aides for Dean and Kerry are expected to spend a week or so planning an endorsement, the officials said.

Word of Dean's expected endorsement came on the latest in a string of good-news primary nights for Kerry, who in the next few weeks is expected to have won enough delegates to claim the Democratic presidential nomination. He essentially locked up the nomination when Edwards quit the race.

President Bush had a memorable night of his own, albeit with less suspense, when he crossed the necessary threshold of 1,255 delegates to wrap up the Republican nomination, according to an Associated Press count.

Kerry swept Florida, Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana in voting Tuesday night, largely without major opposition. He won about 75 percent of the vote in Florida and Mississippi, and about two-thirds in the other states. Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Al Sharpton are still challenging Kerry, although Sharpton failed to get on the Louisiana ballot.

At stake in the four states Tuesday were 465 delegates to the Democratic National Convention in July. An Associated Press analysis showed the senator with 1,816, but Kerry wasn't expected to reach the magic number of 2,162 until later this month because of the way the party allocates delegates.

Exit polls conducted for The Associated Press showed the economy was the top issue, with about four in 10 voters saying their own financial situation was worse than four years ago. As in earlier primaries, many were angry at Bush, especially in Florida, where his brother, Jeb, is governor, and in Texas, his home state, according to the surveys conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International.