Dole Decries Clinton’s ’93 Gas Tax Hike

Paying a visit to a suburban service station offering a “gas tax repeal special,” Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole accused President Clinton on Saturday of foisting a gas tax hike on the motoring public.

Dodging raindrops as he stood beneath a sign advertising 4.3 cents off posted pump prices--but only until noon--at an Exxon station in this Northern Virginia community, Dole said the White House’s 1993 deficit-reduction package represented the “largest tax increase in the history of the world.”

The deficit deal included a 4.3-cent-per-gallon surcharge on motor fuel, which Dole, the Senate majority leader, has proposed to repeal. He noted that the package was approved by congressional Democrats with no Republican support.

In response to a question, Dole acknowledged that repealing the tax hike might do little to halt future increases in gasoline prices, which have risen steadily in recent weeks in response to tight supplies.

“Yeah, they might go up in the future,” Dole said. “But the price would be 4.3 cents lower than it would be with the tax.”

Flanked by some of Virginia’s top GOP leaders, including Sen. John W. Warner, Rep. Thomas M. Davis III and Gov. George F. Allen, Dole said his party is united in support of the gas-tax rollback.

“We don’t need to raise taxes,” Dole said, citing a refrain from his campaign speeches. “We need to begin [deficit reduction] by cutting spending.”

By trying to link Clinton and the deficit-reduction deal with the recent rise in the cost of gasoline, Dole is seeking to gain a measure of political advantage from public resentment of higher pump prices. With the vacation driving season approaching, Americans have reacted angrily to the highest prices since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, which have coincided with rising profits at some major oil companies.

In an effort to counter the Republican drive for a gas tax rollback, Clinton has ordered the sale of up to 12 million barrels of oil from the national emergency reserves in order to lessen any supply shortages that are contributing to rising prices.

Dave Shook, manager of the Falls Church Exxon station, estimated that he has had to raise pump prices eight or nine times this year to help cover the rising costs his station pays for the gasoline it dispenses.

“But we don’t pass on all the increases to the consumers,” Shook said, pointing to a highway full of cars going past his station. “There are too many stations, and we have to remain competitive, so we don’t charge every time there’s an increase in our costs.”

Shook said he was told Friday by the station’s owners that Dole wanted to use the facility as a backdrop. He said the owners instructed him to discount the gas to draw attention to Dole’s visit.

“I didn’t have a problem with that,” Shook said. But he noted that the personal appearance had not turned him into a Dole supporter. “No; in fact, I don’t even vote,” he said.