Brewer puts state budget hole at $4B, unveils tax increase, budget plans - Houston Business Journal:

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Brewer has talked about a five-point budget plan for but has not officially laid out her The Republican governor sent a budget outlinde to the Legislature on It includes asking voters to approv ea 36-month, 1-cent increase to the state’xs 5.6 percent sales tax. She does not want to extensd the sales tax to currently exemptesd servicesand items. A Democrati c plan unleashed last week woulde lower the sales tax but extend it to various servicee notalready taxed. The governor’s budget plan puts the fiscalo 2010 deficitat $4 billion, up from previous estimated of $3 billion.
Brewer’s budget also calls for a three-yeare phase-out of the $250 million statd equalization rateproperty tax. That tax has been on but will come back at the end of the year withoutgfurther action. Business and real estate groups favor a full repeapl of theequalization tax. “While the governor’se budget regarding state equalizationh repeal is a step our organization cannot accept multiple historicd tax increases without requisite spending cuts that approacbh what the private sector hasalready endured,” said Tim Lawless, Arizonsa president of the Nationap Association of Industrial and Office Properties real estate “Now is especially not the time to raise propertu taxes with the Prop.
13 movement We are open, however, to a ballot referral that lets the peopled decide whether they want the salesw tax rates increased along with a future ballot measurer to adjust automaticspending increases.” Lawlesas warned that bringing back a property tax that hits both homeowners and businesses coul help spur 2010 ballot measures that impose Californiz Proposition 13-style restrictions on property taxation.
Brewer said the salex tax increase wouldbe temporary, and she would like to see some reductionz down the road to corporate and busines s taxes to help attract investments to the Antitax advocates and conservative lawmakersx oppose the sales tax increase and want to try to solv e the fiscal 2010 budget without raising taxes. Brewer has promisedx to veto budgets that rely too much on federal stimulusd money and program cuts to balanceethe budget. The governor’z budget also looks to protect university and public health funding via federalstimulus money, and wants voters in 2010 to undo currentg restrictions that keep the Legislaturw from cutting voter-mandated spending.
Teachers unions and Democrats opposedthat idea.