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

DATE: SATURDAY, February 19, 1994                   TAG: 9402190146
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

`COUGH DROP & CONDOM' TAX KEPT TO HELP SCHOOLS

The House of Delegates and the Senate agreed overwhelmingly Friday to keep the sales tax on non-prescription drugs in order to provide additional aid to poor schools.

No one spoke against the sales tax bill, which Democratic leaders pushed to fund their school disparity plan. The Senate approved the bill unanimously, but 18 of 47 Republican delegates voted against it.

Gov. George Allen, a Republican, has not said whether he supports keeping the so-called "cough drops and condoms" tax that former Gov. Douglas Wilder, a Democrat, proposed repealing before he left office last month.

Allen has indicated he supports other tax breaks that Wilder proposed for businesses and self-employed workers.

The bill raises about $33 million from the 4.5 percent sales tax and reduces two other tax credits.

Budget-writing committees plan to earmark that money for a program to aid schools with large numbers of disadvantaged students.

Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994

by CNB