Yes, style sheets have the padding-top and margin-top attributes, but if there is a concern about a browser (like Netscape Navigator 3.x) that may not support style sheets, try using the non-breaking space entity ( ). To force line spacing above data in a table cell, try this:
<TABLE>
<TR>
<TD>This text is in row one of this table.</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD> <BR><BR>This text is in row two.</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
where the text in the second row of the table has a little more "padding" on the top thanks to the non-breaking space. The second TD block has a "hidden" line of text consisting of the single non-breaking space character. The <BR> tags then "break" this hidden line.