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

DATE: MONDAY, April 25, 1994                   TAG: 9404250005
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Warren Fiske
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CAN SUPPORT FOR TAXES HELP ROBB?

In a series of policy speeches across the state this spring, Robb has strongly suggested that he will support tax increases if voters re-elect him this fall.

Robb says he would prefer to slash spending first. But for all the rhetoric in Congress these days, Robb says his colleagues lack the "intestinal fortitude" to eliminate the nation's $173.5 billion deficit by sacrificing federal programs that benefit their districts.

"It's the simplest equation possible," Robb said recently. "If you're unwilling to balance accounts by reducing spending, the only way to do it is to raise taxes.

"I'm always willing to pay the bill," he added. "If . . . we decide that health care is important . . . then we either have to cut spending in some other area or raise taxes. I'm saying that I'm willing to accept either alternative."

If Robb wins the Democratic nomination this spring, his comments are sure to become the center of debate in this fall's campaign. The two Republicans competing to oppose him - Oliver North and Jim Miller - are pledging to reduce general taxes.

Several analysts say that the tax stand ultimately may be more damaging to Robb than reports of his womanizing in the 1980s and his bitter personal feud with former Gov. Douglas Wilder.

"We keep talking about Chuck Robb's vulnerability and negative ratings in terms of women and Wilder," said Brad Coker, president of Mason-Dixon Political/Media Research Inc., a Maryland polling company.

"But the bottom line is that those may be peripheral issues and the place where Chuck Robb may be really vulnerable is on his voting record. He has cast votes that are out of touch with Virginia," Coker said, referring to Robb's backing of tax increases in 1990 and 1993 and his support for gays in the military.

"If he's saying he'll even look at a tax increase, he's painting a bull's-eye on his backside," Coker added.

Robb acknowledges that his stand may be unpopular, but says he deserves credit for candor. "Painless" efforts to balance the budget by reducing taxes, he notes, have led to a six-fold increase in the national debt - from $709 billion in 1980 to $4.5 trillion today. "It's a flawed theory," he says.

The Senate has rejected binding efforts to hold increases in entitlement programs - such as Medicare and welfare - to the rate of inflation. "Yet everyone seems to support a balanced-budget amendment, which would result in even far more draconian cuts," he said.

North, Robb and Miller all support a balanced-budget amendment and a line-item veto for the president.

North says he can lower taxes, increase defense spending and still balance the budget.

Miller, a former federal budget chief in the 1980s, calls for a series of intricate reforms to the budget process and privatizing deposit insurance for lending institutions.

Robb wonders whether either plan can work. "Regrettably, there are some who talk about fiscal responsibility but are unwilling to make the sacrifice," he says.

Keywords:
POLITICS