IN BRIEF : Chrysler Backs Hike in Gasoline Tax

Chrysler Corp. supports an increase in the U.S. gasoline tax to conserve fuel, slow the rise in oil imports and reduce the federal deficit, chairman Lee Iacocca said today.

Chrysler, the nation’s No. 3 auto maker, has long supported an increase in the federal tax of 9.1 cents a gallon, Iacocca wrote in a letter to the editor published in the New York Times. Since the energy crisis of 1979, he has repeatedly called for a federal gasoline tax of 50 cents a gallon. Analysts estimate that each one cent hike in the tax would generate about $1 billion in revenues.

“The country needs a gas tax, first and foremost, to reduce the deficit,” Iacocca wrote. “That’s good for the whole country. But we also happen to believe that what’s good for the country is good for Chrysler.”

Ford Motor Co. would also support raising the federal gas tax, vice chairman Harold Poling said this month, provided that the proceeds go only to reduce the budget deficit. General Motors Corp., the largest U.S. auto maker, has previously said that it opposes a tax increase.