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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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050189
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05018900.038
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1990-09-17
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NATION, Page 35Dread My LipsNot Bush's, but those of the Governors asking for taxes
Taxpayers who relaxed when they read George Bush's lips now
have something else to fret about: Michael Dukakis, Mario Cuomo,
Jim Thompson and other Governors are mouthing a different message.
Their states face deficits or pressing needs, and, unlike the
Federal Government, they are barred from deliberately shelling out
more than they take in. Unless they sharply slice spending, they
will be unable to echo the President's "no new taxes" pledge. To
cover their budget gaps, 23 states are considering or have already
adopted tax hikes.
Overall, these jurisdictions hope to raise an extra $5.1
billion next year. More than a third of that would be levied in
just three Northeastern states -- Massachusetts, New York and
Connecticut. The main sources of new revenue are so-called sin
taxes on smoking and drinking. Confronting a deficit of as much as
$300 million in Massachusetts, Dukakis has proposed tobacco- and
alcohol-tax increases as well as a phased 10 cents rise in the
gasoline tax, to 21 cents. New York's Cuomo last week reached
agreement with legislators on $1 billion in extra revenue, raising
the tax on a pack of cigarettes from 21 cents to 33 cents and on
an average bottle of liquor from 81 cents to $1.05, and imposing
a host of license and fee increases. Even the cost of dying will
triple: a death certificate goes from $5 to $15. Connecticut's
Democratic Governor William O'Neill has sliced spending $150
million, and expects to close a remaining $97 million deficit
mainly with sin taxes and a 15% surcharge on corporations.
Illinois' Thompson, a Republican, is considering a boost from
20 cents to 35 cents per cigarette pack that would net $170
million. California's voters last November approved raising the tax
on a pack of cigarettes from 10 cents to 35 cents, which should
bring in $300 million this year. Texas legislators are pondering
a possible 7 cents increase, to 33 cents, in the same tax.
Louisiana may raise the gasoline tax from 16 cents to 20 cents per
gal.
State budgets have been severely strained by a combination of
dwindling help from the debt-ridden national Government and
Washington-mandated increases in spending for catastrophic health
care and nursing homes. State officials also blame some unexpected
consequences of the 1986 federal tax-reform law. Late in 1986
taxpayers rushed to sell securities and property before
capital-gains taxes jumped from 20% to a current maximum of 33%.
Some state planners rosily assumed this high revenue would
continue. Cigarette smokers will pay for the miscalculation.