Free Republic

<p>Virginians would pay $2 billion a year in new taxes on sales, salaries, smokes and motor fuel under a plan tentatively approved yesterday by the state Senate on a voice vote.</p> <p>"I hate taxes, but I love Virginia more," said Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr., R-Winchester. Capping nearly two hours of sometimes-testy debate, moderate Republicans teamed with Democrats to easily keep anti-tax Republicans from weakening the package, which also includes tax breaks for the poor as well as millionaires.</p>

Excerpts: "A key Senate committee passed a plan Tuesday that would raise Virginia's taxes by $1.8 billion each year but backs away from proposals to completely repeal the car tax and to give county governments the ability to impose a local cigarette tax." ... "House leaders have said that their budget would increase funding for basic education, colleges and health care but would freeze state spending in many other areas. The House budget would add about $62 million over the next two years for transportation, budget writers said. Senators said their proposed tax increases would fund about $800 million a...

<p>The House of Delegates gave preliminary endorsement yesterday to legislation that would raise about $520 million for the state budget by abolishing sales-tax breaks for some of Virginia's most powerful industries.</p> <p>Despite claims by Democrats that the proposal is irresponsible and a "shot in the dark," the House voted 59-36 to support the plan. The chamber's Republican leadership said the action is necessary if the budget - short of revenue by about $1 billion - is to be balanced without a general tax increase.</p>

<p>Legislative approval of Gov. Mark R. Warner's $1 billion tax-increase and budget-balancing plan would probably help protect the state's prized Triple-A bond rating, a leading financial analyst said yesterday.</p> <p>Steven J. Kantor***, president of Arimax Finance Advisors Inc. in New York, also dismissed as unfounded a recent study financed by anti-tax Republicans that concluded a tax increase would stall and hurt Virginia's rebounding economy.</p>

Alan Greenspan is making a spirited call for restraint in expenditures as the KEY focus in addressing the budget deficit. He has clearly called for addressing the spending side before considering reversing the tax-cuts. He is also calling for reforms to Social Security and Medicare to ensure that promised benefits will be there.

U.S. Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) is scheduled to join in the introduction today of a statewide business group that will enter the debate about Virginia's financial future and mirror the concerns detailed by Democratic Gov. Mark R. Warner, officials said yesterday. John Warner will not specifically endorse the governor's $1 billion plan to revamp taxes, according to a source close to the senator. *** House Finance Committee Chairman Harry J. Parrish (R-Manassas) estimated that the House could find "hundreds of millions" of dollars in savings by eliminating some of those [business tax] exemptions. *** Although House members remain averse...

PORTLAND -- Oregon voters easily defeated Measure 30 on Tuesday, and now we're beginning to hear the effects of the failure. Criminals may spend less time behind bars, but one local sheriff says he's going to make sure his jail doesn't become a revolving door. Multnomah County's new Wapato Jail is set to open in July, but budget cuts will keep it closed and empty. More than 100 jail beds will disappear between now and May -- once again, thanks to budget cuts. Expect to see criminals set free before their release dates. The sheriff says he'll hold murderers and...

It's a long article; if interested, read the whole thing. Short excerpts: "Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. yesterday called on the Democrats who control the Maryland State House to abandon the partisan feuding that marked his first year in office and join him in pursuing a centrist agenda focused on reining in state spending, cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay and protecting services for children, the poor and the disabled." ... In brief and blunt remarks, Ehrlich called on lawmakers to pass a slots bill to raise as much as $800 million a year to fund public education. "A decade of...

<p>Without specifically calling for higher taxes, business and religious leaders said yesterday that the Virginia tax system must be overhauled to provide additional dollars for schools, roads and aid to the sick and poor.</p> <p>The Virginia Business Council said an update of the tax code is necessary if the state is to avoid a threatened downgrade of its top triple-A credit rating.</p>

<p>FRANKFORT, Ky. — Many elderly residents of nursing homes will be forced to sell their houses to help pay for their care under changes state Medicaid officials plan to implement Sept. 1.</p> <p>And the state will no longer allow heirs a "homestead exemption'' of $50,500 when it seeks to recover its costs from estates of nursing home residents who have died, state Health Services Secretary Marcia Morgan said yesterday.</p>

Rescue's Just Not Part of the Plan Excerpt: "In New York, California, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, officials ready layoff notices. Cities and towns raise property and sales taxes. Tuitions climb at public universities. The housing market has gone flaccid in some quarters. Consumer spending has dropped in New York City, San Francisco and Boston. It's hard not to hear in this a cautionary echo of Bush the elder. His Gulf War glow dissipated so quickly, overshadowed in 1992 by voters' perceptions that their personal circumstances were in decline. Today the worse-hit states are powerful economic engines: In 2000 -- the...

CHEYENNE -- The state's surplus grew by $33 million after revenue projections were boosted for mineral taxes, leaving $169 million in the coffers for the Legislature's two-month general session which begins Tuesday. If lawmakers agree to the governor's recommended spending, in addition to a statutory amount that must be set aside, the surplus would fall to around $60 million, said Rep. Phil Nicholas, R-Laramie, co-chairman of the Joint Appropriations Committee. But, he said, that does not include several bills being drafted with hefty price tags, including some health and social services measures and one revising the K-12 spending formula. "If...

<p>Fasten your seat belts: the state Department of Transportation and county police departments are bringing back the successful "Click It Or Ticket" enforcement program in November. State transportation officials and law enforcement agencies are scheduled to meet next week to plan the next phase of the program, said state transportation spokeswoman Marilyn Kali.</p>

<p>This is pitiful!  Maine is in BIG TROUBLE with the budget. Yet, Governor King will NOT do away with the lap top program! The Governor has $30 million stashed away for laptops!!!</p> <p>As public schools across Maine prepare to give laptop computers to nearly 17,000 seventh-graders, teachers at nine schools that pioneered the program are sharing what they've learned.</p>

AUGUSTA — Maine ended its budget year on June 30 a little more in the red than forecast, but better off than some officials had feared. There are still concerns, however, that the state revenue shortfall could get worse in the new budget year. Figures released Thursday by state Finance Commissioner Janet Waldron put the deficit at just under $93 million. “That is a preliminary number, but I think it will be very close to that,” said Waldron. She had forecast a $90 million shortfall, but some state officials had feared the deficit could reach as high as $115 million....

<p>SACRAMENTO - The state of California has never seen a drop in tax revenue like this year's, and now lawmakers are girding for the mammoth task ahead: How do you tackle a deficit that equals one-fourth of what you spent last year?</p>