Ctlr,3 :ILI 571 ornin;:NnuS Friday, October 15, 1982 White calls Clements leader in raising taxes By Sam Kinch Jr. The unemployment tax increase was Austin -Ar.t. • ". • # 00" • AUSTIN — Atty. Gen. Mark White, escalating his tax-oriented campaign for governor, Thurs- day accused Gov. Bill Clements of "probably rais- ing, or promising to raise, more taxes than any governor in Texas history." Contrary to Clements' claim of providing Texas with Si billion in tax relief, White said, "I, C...12't find any return of any taxes, just tax in- creases." Clements was in East Texas and unavailable for comment, but campaign manager Jim Fran- cis called White's claims "ludicrous." • "The governor's record is one of lowering, and repealing taxes, not raising taxes, and Markt White knows it," Francis said. "But the White' , campaign, on an almost daily basis, is getting more and more desperate and is raising the rhetorical level to where it almost splits the ears." The Democratic chal- lenger also called the gover- nor as "insensitive," not *414:7- •-? only to unemployed work- ers in Texas but also to utili- ties consumers and busi- nesses as well. Mark White "He raised the unem- ployment tax for business people, he raised property taxes for everybody and now he's talking about raising the gasoline tax," White said. "With rising unemployment and rising utility costs and with taxes already going up, I don't understand how be can say we just arbitrarily increase the gasoline tax." Clements said on a Monday night televised debate with White that he would "strongly sup- port" and sign into law a bill increasing the gaso- line tax to raise funds for highway construction and maintenance. - The proposed gasoline tax increase would boost Clements' tax hikes to 53 billion, White said — $500 million in unemployment taxes and Si billion each in property and gasoline taxes. g Dallas "filorning Naos Cc:oper I3ureau of The News triggered by a first-ever drain on the state's job- less benefits fund, which is controlled by state law. The increase might have been even higher If a special legislative session, called by Clem- ents last month, hadn't resolved the problem. The property tax "increase" White attribu- ted to Clements is the result of local govern- ments' actions, utilizing the 100 percent market- value • appraisal system—fhat the governor signed into law in 1979. White also attacked Clements' statement dur- ing the debate that the fuel adjustment clause on 'electric utility bills can't be touched because it is raw, "The governor is completely wrong about that," White said, explaining that the charge is a . matter of Public Utilities Commission policy and can be changed by a vote by that panel. White said his "first appointment" to the 3- member PUC would help reverse that policy, which he said "takes market forces out of the (rate-setting) equation" and lets ratepayers as- sume the full burden of gas-purchase decisions. If the PUC was not convinced to change the pol- icy, White added, the Legislature should change the law to eliminate automatic pils-throughs of higher charges. Asked if the same reversal of policy should be applied to the Railroad Commission, which al- lows gas utilities to pass on higher costs to the customer, White .said, "To the extent that the same circumstances apply, yes" and, if neces- sary, "It should be subjected to legislative re- v:ew." Unlike the PUC, the three members of the R.-..ilroad Commission are elected. But while he h.is considered the idea of an election of utility commissioners, White said he is not committed to the idea. "First things first," White said, "and first I'm going to appoint a housewife to the utility corn- .S1 on." Clements has said he doesn't know of a housewife — trained in business, construction and bond financing — who is qualified to serve as a utility regulator. 15, 19E2 .Files on Wyatt sex incident released By Anne Swardson Washington Bureau of The News WASHINGTON — The 14th Congres- sional District race in Texas reached into the Washington police files Thurs- admitted publicly, he also had a prob- lem with alcoholism, which he says he has since cured. Wyatt, who held the seat for two years and did not seek re-election in 1980, was not charged or arrested in has publicly set for himself all along. That goal, which he repeated again on Sept. 29, is 'to get the facts out in the open' and 'truly get to the bottom of the incidents' that link him to the Wasn- ington police, Patman said.