WASHINGTON WATCH : California Fuming

During the campaign Bill Clinton said many things about helping recession-plagued California when he got to the White House.

That was then--this is now.

The latest out of Washington is a budgetary plan to avoid all new energy taxes, including heating oil and utility taxes, except additional gas taxes.

The original broad-based approach would have spread the pain across the country. The new approach would be especially painful for California. Narrowly drawn gasoline and motor-fuel taxes fall most heavily where residents typically commute long distances by car because of urban sprawl and a lack of alternative, or convenient, public transportation. That’s us.

By contrast, energy taxes including home heating oil and perhaps a surcharge on utility bills as well as a measure of gas taxation would help in reaching the Administration’s five-year, $500-billion deficit reduction goal without hitting one region more than another. What’s more, across-the-board energy taxes can reinforce the wisdom of energy conservation. That can reduce pollution, promote energy efficiency and reduce U.S. dependence on imported oil.

Imposing only an additional federal gas tax asks California to do more than any place else. In days when the state was flush, that might have been justifiable. But in this unrelenting recession, California needs Washington to understand whom a gas tax hurts most. We repeat: If California doesn’t get out of this recession, it’s hard to see how America can have a true economic recovery.