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

DATE: THURSDAY, October 21, 1993                   TAG: 9310210185
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

75-CENT CIGARETTE TAX PROPOSED

President Clinton will include a 75-cent-a-pack cigarette tax increase in his health-care proposal as well as a payroll tax on big companies that set up their own outside plans, an administration official said Wednesday.

The 1 percent payroll tax would apply to corporations that set up separate health plans rather than joining regional health-purchasing alliances, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The cigarette tax now is 24 cents a pack, and tobacco interests were strongly resisting talk that it might go as high as $1 or more.

Both tax-increase proposals had been expected to be in the range Clinton has decided upon, but final details were unavailable when he unveiled his health plan a month ago.

The fine print of the health proposal will not be released until the White House sends its health-care legislation to Capitol Hill, probably next week.

White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers said final decisions on the details of the health plan were not complete.

But an administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Clinton had settled both on the 75-cent cigarette tax increase and the 1 percent corporate payroll tax.

The official cautioned that once the plan reaches Capitol Hill, it will be subject to negotiation with Congress and is subject to revisions.

Clinton's health plan is designed to guarantee all Americans access to health coverage by the end of 1997. Employers would be required to pay at least 80 percent of their workers' average premiums, with employees paying the rest.

Small businesses and low-wage workers would get help to pay their share of the premiums.

by CNB