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

DATE: FRIDAY, September 17, 1993                   TAG: 9309170124
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

WHITE HOUSE HINTS AT 75-CENT TOBACCO TAX

The White House is studying an increase in cigarette taxes of 70 cents to 80 cents, a compromise from the $1-a-pack jump previously considered to finance health care reform, Hillary Rodham Clinton has told a tobacco-state lawmaker.

White House health care spokesman Kevin Anderson said Thursday the financing is still up in the air. "The president hasn't made a decision on it. We know the revenue stream we need. The president hasn't decided on the mix."

Earlier this week, Clinton's chief lobbyist on Capitol Hill, Howard Paster, told tobacco-state lawmakers the White House was still focused on a $1-a-pack tax.

But in a meeting Wednesday with North Carolina Democratic Rep. Charlie Rose, Hillary Rodham Clinton cited 75-cents-a-pack, according to a congressional aide familiar with the meeting. The aide added Clinton also talked of a tax "between 70 and 80 cents."

- Associated Press

by CNB