MANCHESTER, N.H.-In a city where downtown shops are bustling and billboards are encouraging investments, Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes' economic plans sounded a bit stale.

The magazine publisher's most famous initiative, revamping the "horrific" tax system, did not elicit an over-whelming response during his obligatory campaign stop in Manchester-even on the night before Tax Day.

"The tax issue gets to the heart of the American experience, which is to allow each and every one of us to develop his or her talents to the fullest," Forbes told a gathering sponsored by the Citizens for a Sound Economic Foundation. "To put it in perspective, the Gettysburg Address was 200 words, the Holy Bible...is 73,700 words, and the federal income tax code is now seven and a half million words and rising."

The centerpiece of Forbes' plan is still the 17 percent flat tax that he touted in the 1996 presidential race. He said yesterday the flat tax would preserve exemptions most favorable to middleclass families.

Forbes also wants to eliminate taxes on social security.

"This is America, and we can take the tax code back into our own hands," he said.

Forbes blamed the excesses of the current tax code on Washington lobbyists, who he said exert undue influence on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

His proposal for the IRS, he said, was to "drive a stake through its heart, and hope it never rises again."

Forbes is fond of saying that his plan would allow Americans to file their taxes on a postcard.

Forbes avoided any explicit reference to moral issues last night, although he did speak of his plan as providing family capital.

Clearly though, Forbes is a different candidate than he was in 1996. Back then he avoided strong stands on "family issues," such as abortion, gay rights and affirmative action.

However, since then, he has become vocally pro-life. He also wrote a book titled The Moral Basis of a Free Society.

Although its importance has waned in the past decade, New Hampshire remains a symbolic test for aspiring presidential candidates. Here the archetypal image of door-to-door campaigning took shape, and here Vice President Al Gore '69 and former New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley recently rallied for support.

Among Republican candidates, Forbes faces an uphill battle in the Granite State and beyond.

But a senior Forbes adviser said yesterday that his candidate sounds all the right notes.