Greenspan Backs Gas Tax Increase to Cut Deficit: Greenspan Offers Deficit Ideas
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan suggested yesterday that Congress raise federal gasoline taxes by 15 cents a gallon to help shrink the budget deficit.</br></br>GreenspanÛªs remarks, made before the Senate Budget Committee, contained some unusually specific suggestions about ,'-ow to reduce the budget deficit, which is expected to exceed $150 billion this year. While GreenspanÛªs predecessor, Paul Volcker, frequently admonished lawmakers to narrow the deficit, he avoided offering detailed proposals.</br></br>in gasoline taxes is sure to give political impetus to the idea. The proposal, however, faces stiff political opposition on Capitol Hill from powerful oil-state lawmakers, such as House Speaker Jim Wright (D.-Tex.) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Lloyd Bentsen (D.-Tex.).</br></br>Congressional staffers said a gasoline tax hike has almost no chance of passage during the 1988 election year. They said, though, that it might be enacted next year, when a new president confronts the nation's fiscal problem.</br></br>According to Greenspan, "A hike of 15 cents per gallon ... could raise close to $15 billion in revenues, while retail gasoline prices would still be well below the levels of the