ROSTENKOWSKI RELUCTANT TO BACK TAX HIKE

  House Ways and Means Committee
  Chairman Dan Rostenkowski said he would be reluctant to back
  the tax increase if it did not have President Reagan's support.
      He told a National Press Club luncheon there would be a
  number of tax proposals that could be debated if Reagan sought
  a tax increase to help balance the budget.
      However, he said he would prefer to leave the tax rates
  enacted in last year's tax reform bill unchanged.
      There have been calls in Congress to hold the rates at the
  1987 level rather than allow them to fall next year.
      Reagan proposed 22 billion dlrs in revenue as part of his
  1988 budget proposal, but it did not include general tax
  increases.
      On trade issues, Rostenkowski said he did not expect the
  major trade bill this year would single out any U.S. industry
  for special protection.
      "To go after individual items in a trade bill is suicide,"
  he said.
      This apparently ruled out congressional approval of another
  textile trade bill to limit quotas on textile imports, as was
  proposed again this year.
  

