WARNING OF `ALARM BELLS,' CLINTON UNVEILS TAX INCREASES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 12, 1993                   TAG: 9302120166
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium
WARNING OF `ALARM BELLS,' CLINTON UNVEILS TAX INCREASES
President Clinton asked Americans on Thursday to heed the "alarm bells in the night" and rally behind his economic plan, including an increase in the top tax rates for both individuals and corporations.
He also told business leaders he met with privately at a White House meeting to expect some form of a broad-based energy tax to be in his package, according to participants.
Clinton used stark terms as he stepped up his campaign pitch for the plan that he will unveil Wednesday, saying the current economic crisis is "every bit as profound as those we have faced in the past."
"We risk losing the standard of living that we have taken for granted for so many years as Americans," Clinton said in a public session with 230 business leaders.
He also began a series of meetings with Democratic members of Congress to outline his plan.
House Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., said Clinton went over few specifics other than to emphasize that all Americans would be asked to contribute.
Asked if Congress would support a politically risky package of tax increases and deep spending cuts, Gephardt said: "There is no gain without risk. We have to be bold and we have to be long-term."
A day after Clinton indicated in a televised town hall meeting that his plan would include higher taxes on middle Americans, the president told 230 business leaders he also would propose raising the top corporate tax rate above its current 34 percent.
Administration aides said that Clinton was expected to propose raising the rate to 36 percent - the same top rate he has suggested for households earning more than $200,000 a year and who now pay 31 percent.
Corporations with taxable income of $75,000 or less still would pay a lower rate.
White House communications director George Stephanopoulos said Clinton hadn't decided yet on a final figure for the increase in the top corporate rate, suggesting he could move it even higher than 36 percent.
Clinton also indicated he would announce tax-code changes designed to hold down high-flying corporate salaries.
"I want to make a proposal that deals with the fact that the tax code should no longer subsidize excessive pay of chief executives and other high executives - excessive defined as unrelated to the productivity of the enterprise," Clinton said.
"There is no question that there are higher taxes across the board coming down," Barry Rogstad, president of the American Business Conference, said after the session.
Clinton told business leaders he would seek to offset the higher corporate taxes with an investment tax credit for businesses.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB