Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 20, 1993 TAG: 9302200092
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: CHILLICOTHE, OHIO LENGTH: Medium
U.S. SALES TAX IN FUTURE?
President Clinton sought to reassure voters Friday that he would not agree to raise taxes unless Congress simultaneously cuts government spending. But he complicated his message by suggesting he might consider a new national sales tax later in his term."I have no interest in raising a penny in taxes if we're not going to do the cuts," Clinton said, in a line that drew applause at a morning town meeting in a high school gymnasium. "I don't want to get a deal where we're going to raise the money and not do the cuts. Not a penny."
That message was at least partly overshadowed by a comment Clinton made earlier to the gathering. Asked by an audience member why he had not proposed a national sales tax, Clinton said: "I think we may well have to look at [that] in the years ahead."
White House aides privately have discussed a national sales tax, or value-added tax - a levy common in most of Europe, Japan and Canada - as a way of financing the costs of Clinton's proposed national health program. But they were taken aback by Clinton's public discussion of the idea.
The White House had honed the theme of the day around the "no cuts, no taxes" message to address voters' worry that Congress might raise taxes but never get around to cutting spending.
Almost immediately after Clinton finished his town meeting, White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers sought out reporters to say the president's remark about the national sales tax "was . . . an honest answer to a question. He certainly didn't intend to send any signal" of a plan to raise yet more taxes.
After the event, aides privately warned the president that his words were certain to create political trouble. A few minutes later, Clinton told reporters as he was getting into his limousine, "I wasn't floating that as a trial balloon.
"It's not something that is now under consideration," he insisted.