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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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time
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051589
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05158900.037
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1990-09-22
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NATION, Page 39American NotesLOUISIANAReform Deformed
When bouncy Buddy Roemer, 45, took over as Governor of
Louisiana last year, he struck the pose of a reformer determined
to energize a state with the nation's highest unemployment and one
of its worst educational systems. Now he is staggering, jolted by
the defeat of his key reform: a tax plan that would have shifted
some of the burden from business to the middle class.
Saying he was "disappointed" that 55% of the voters had
rejected his plan, Roemer last week proposed laying off thousands
of state employees and closing vocational schools and hospitals.
That would shrink up to $720 million from a budget already
shriveled by a decline in tax revenues from oil companies. It would
still leave the legislature with an unhappy choice: extend the 3%
sales tax that Roemer's new measures would have replaced or accept
severe cutbacks in vital government services.