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

DATE: TUESDAY, March 2, 1993                   TAG: 9303020338
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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DOLLAR FOR DOLLAR, CUT FEDERAL BLOAT

WHILE IT IS technically true that he did not promise a middle-class tax cut, President Clinton certainly did lead us to believe that he was going to give us one. Now, only a short time into his term, he is telling us that things are so dire that he must not only back out on that tax cut, he must hit us with a host of new taxes as well. We are told that we must make individual sacrifice for the common good.

There is nothing wrong with that idea, if it is true, but I think something is being missed here. The biggest problem we face is overspending by the bloated federal government, much of which is pure waste. We simply cannot afford, as a nation to keep supporting government agencies that are of marginal, if any, use. We also cannot afford wasteful government programs such as tobacco subsidies, timber subsidies and any others that result in a net loss to taxpayers.

I have a suggestion, which I think most thinking Americans would go along with. Let's ask the new administration to make a commitment that for every single new dollar taken in from new taxes or the growth of the economy, the government cuts a dollar from its spending. BOB SHELL RADFORD

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