THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Wednesday, May 29, 1996               TAG: 9605290007
SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A8   EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Letter 
                                            LENGTH:   37 lines

INCREASE, DON'T DECREASE, THE FEDERAL GASOLINE TAX

The effort in Congress to repeal the 4.3-cents-per-gallon increase in the federal gasoline tax that took effect a few years ago is misguided. We should instead be looking at a gradual increase in the tax until motor-vehicle-fuel prices are more in line with Europe's. The reason is national security.

By the time of Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm in 1990-91, the United States had begun importing half of its crude oil for the first time since the 1973 Arab oil embargo. Now we are importing nearly 60 percent. Most of it ends up in motor vehicles, not for industry or heating or power generation.

Whether we realized it or not, one of our main goals five years ago was to keep cheap oil flowing. We succeeded at relatively little cost. But what will happen next time, if we are sending 20-year-olds to die in the Middle East so the 60-year-old with the V-12 Mercedes-Benz can keep filling his tank at a buck a gallon?

Raising the tax a nickel a month for 48 months would make the price of a gallon of regular roughly $3.75, which is still cheaper than in most European countries. This would encourage more rational vehicle choices. There is no reason why Americans need to drive 15-mpg pickups that never haul a load (as research by Ford recently showed is common), 18-mpg four-wheel-drives that never go off-road, or 20-mpg 2-ton sedans that usually carry a single person. Yet that's what we're buying.

We should preserve freedom of vehicle choice, which is why we should oppose efforts to require automakers to increase fuel economy. With cheap gas, nobody will buy shrunken, expensive vehicles anyway. For a change, let's target the consumer who doesn't realize how his choice of a glamorous gas-guzzler endangers U.S. security. Lowering the gasoline tax sends a signal that is not just wrong, but dangerous.

EDWIN KRAMPITZ JR.

Drewryville, May 13, 1996 by CNB