Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY . Wednesday, August 14, 1971 Pae woTH MCHGA DILVWdnsdyAuus-1. 97 Blumenthal urges stronger gas tax WASHINGTON (A)) - Treas- ury Secretary W. Michael Blu- menthal urged the Senate yes- terday to strengthen the gas guzzler car tax passed by the House. But he onoosed adding further cash and tax incen- tives for energy companies to the President's energy plan. "We need to keen the pres- sure on gas guzzling automo- bles until the national automo- bile stock is truly fuel effic- ient " Blumenthal told the Sen- ate's tax-writing Finance Com- mittee. TI4E SECRETARY made no specific proposal other than to ask for "somewhat higher tax- es" than approved by the House. Under the House plan, 1979 models which get less than IS miles per gallon would car- ry a tax of $339 to be paid by the buyer. Blumenthal made no mention of increasing the federal gaso- line tax, and the administra- tion apparently has given up pushing for it. The House round- ly rejected such a hike. Eaergy Secretary James Schlesinger did ask Monday for presidential authority to im- pose a 50-cent standby gas tax, but Finance chairman Sen. Russell Long, (D-La.), said that idea was going nowhere. LONG AND severale other members of the panel continued to plug for federal cash and tax incentives for energy com- panies to look for more oil and natural gas and to develop the country's oil shale and geother- mal power reserves. Blumental said the adminis- tration considered relying on higher market prices and less industry regulation as incentives for solving energy shortages when it drafted the energy pro- gram. But he said that approach would have caused enormous disiocations in the economy and unjust windfall profits for oil and natural gas producers. "THE AMERICAN people, witf justification, would have rejected such an approach out of hand," he said. However, Sen. Herman Tal- madge, (D-Ga.), said his own calculations showed that an an- nual subsidy of $12 billion to oil shale producing companies would provide enough oil to eliminate the need for import- ing any oil. - Blumenthal said if that could be done he would favor such a subsidy, He said he had no idea if it would work. T A L M A D G E, Long and others criticized Carter's plan to tax the production of domes- tic oil and return the revenue to Americans each year., Some of that revenue could easily be plowed back into the industry to enlarge the nation's energy supply, they said. The administration defends the rebate as crucial to keep- ing the money in the economy. The House only approved the rebate for next year, and the tax itself through 1981. Blu- menthal said the Senate should extend both the tax and rebate through 1985 to eliminate "a state of uncertainty about our long-term policy in this vital area." IN A RELATED development, spokesmen for the Edison Elec- tric Institute, which represents private power companies, said, the House version of-the ener- gy program would add some $60 billion to household elec- tric bills. W. Donham Crawford, presi- dent of the orgasnization, told a news conference, "people are complaining about high elec- tric costs and now we're go- ing to have these additional costs." Crawford said the hike esti- mate was based on the costs of utilities having to use more coal, paying special charges for oil and natural gas fuels, and installing special meters. All would be passed on to con- sumers, he said. THE UTILITY section of the administration program would I Wanted! peop1e who can: require electricity to be priced according to its costs of pro- duction, with bills being higher for such peak usage periods such as suppertime, and less at other times of the day. Also, the program would eliminate low rates for indus- try and require utilities to in- terconnect their systems for the ' first time to share power. House managers of the pro- gram had no estimates of the individual cost impacts of the utility provisions since they have never been implemented at one time in any part of the country. However, they say the potential cost impact could be very small or negligible if households changed their pat- terns of use. Salad says Life is a mirror and will re- flect back to the thinker what one thinks into it. THE MICHIGAN DAILY Volume LXXXVI, No. 42- Wednesday, August 10, 1977 is edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan. News phone 74-0502. Second class postage paid at Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109. Published daily Tuesday through Sunday morning during the Univer- sity year at 420 Maynard Street, Ann Arbor.-Michigan 48109. Subscrption rates: $12 Sept. thru Apr (2 semes- ters); $13 by mail outside Ann Arbor. 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