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

DATE: SATURDAY, May 29, 1993                   TAG: 9305290167
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

ROBB FAVORS 50-CENT GASOLINE TAX INCREASE

Senators jittery about President Clinton's energy tax gave him little time Friday to savor his big House victory for the unpopular levy and other parts of his economic program.

While the president and others in his administration dropped hints they might accept a major compromise on the energy tax, several Democratic senators seemed in a mood to make him an offer.

Sen. Charles Robb, D-Va., urged the Senate to substitute a dime-a-year increase in the 14.1-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax over the next five years. He cited a new Library of Congress report contending a gas tax would offer less risk to the economy, have fewer regional disparities, do more to reduce pollution and hurt the poor less than Clinton's broad energy tax.

"The gasoline tax is a better option," Robb said.

Robb's proposal drew quick criticism from Gov. Douglas Wilder, who may challenge Robb for the Democratic nomination for his Senate seat next year.

Wilder, talking to reporters after returning from a trip to Africa, said a gasoline tax would be regressive.

"I still believe in cuts, spending cuts, before you speak of raising money," he said. "We've got to slow down this pell-mell rush to tax.

"I haven't seen the senator say where he was going to propose cuts," Wilder said. He said he still plans to announce in June whether he will run against Robb, but he said his announcement may not come until the end of the month.

Several Democratic senators have expressed deep reservations about the energy tax, which would apply to most fuels. It is the only part of Clinton's program that would be felt directly by most middle-income people, raising taxes on gasoline by about 8 cents and the average home electricity bill by about $2.25 a month, for example.

In Clinton's plan, more than half the $72 billion projected from the energy tax would go to federal programs aimed at shielding poor families from most of the tax.

It is far from certain that Congress would raise the gas tax by anything like the 50 cents Robb proposed. In 1990, Congress barely agreed to a 5-cent boost after leaders tried to push through a 12-cent increase.

by CNB