THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 19, 1996 TAG: 9605170026
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 35 lines
In reference to ``Gas attack'' (editorial, May 7), your question in the fifth paragraph asks, ``But where's the money going to come from to pay for a 4.3 cents-per-gallon cut that might cost as much as $35 billion over seven years?''
Well, I can answer that question with many sources of revenue but with no new taxes.
1. We could have saved $50 billion on the Mexico bailout and still have a $15 billion surplus.
2. Reduce foreign aid or do away with it completely ($3 billion to Israel and $2 billion to Egypt per year equals $35 billion in seven years, right?).
3. Cut aid to legal immigrants as Phil Gramm has proposed. (Legal immigrants should pay back all monies spent on them starting five years after citizenship - my idea, something like student loans.)
These are but three ways to offset the 4.3-cent gas-tax reduction. Our primary problem is that Congress can and does waste the taxes of the people of this country on frivolous projects that have nothing to do with the functions of government. Your paper seems to support higher taxes and more-rampant socialist programs instead of limited taxes and increased personal responsibilities.
JACK KING
Chesapeake, May 8, 1996 by CNB