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

DATE: FRIDAY, October 29, 1993                   TAG: 9310290095
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

SENATE PANEL OKS HIGHER CUSTOMS FEES

President Clinton's plan to raise U.S. entry fees on international passengers to $6.50 to pay for the North American Free Trade Agreement won tentative approval of the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday.

But the committee agreed to take another look at the fees next week after Sen. John Breaux, D-La., complained the increases would be unfair to travelers to the Caribbean.

By voice vote, the panel indicated its approval of the fees and other parts of a plan that would raise about $2.6 billion over the next five years. The money would offset a revenue loss expected from the gradual removal of most tariffs on imports from Mexico.

The financing plan approved by the Finance Committee had been agreed to by the House Ways and Means Committee.

The most important element would add $1.50 per passenger to the existing $5 fee assessed most arriving international air and ship passengers to help pay for customs inspections. Earlier proposals to increase border-crossing fees charged cargo-carrying trains and trucks have been dropped. - Associated Press

by CNB