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Holden says he thinks top lawmakers will consider tax increases

May 30, 2003
By: Elizabeth Gill
State Capital Bureau

Governor Holden says legislative leadership may consider tax increases when they start the special session on Monday. EBG in JC.

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Holden has been running an ad campaign encouraging people to call their legislators in support of tax increases to balance the state budget.

Holden says he thinks the Republican controlled legislature is becoming more receptive to the idea.

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Contents: "These people spent 5 months in Jefferson City, listening and talking to each other, now they've had a brief amount of time to go back to their legislative districts and their starting to hear from parents of these school children."

But top leadership says there's been no change to their opposition to balance the budget through tax increases.

From the State Capitol, I'm Elizabeth Gill.

Legisalative leadership says Governor Holden's ad campaign urging voters to call their lawmakers in support of tax increases is not working.

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Although Holden says he thinks House and Senate leaders are becoming more receptive to the idea of tax increases, Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder says that's not the case.

Kinder also says the Governor's campaign has not been effective with voters:

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Contents: ""We're getting 2 to 4, 5, 6 calls a day and as many of them are saying under no circumstances raise my taxes as are taking the Governor's side of this. So I would say he should get his money back for his ad expenditures."

Holden says now that legislators have been back in their districts and are hearing from people who will suffer from proposed budget cuts, lawmakers may re-consider tax increases to balance the budget.

Lawmakers meet on Monday to start the special session.

From the State Capitol, I'm Elizabeth Gill

House Leadership says Governor Holden will not get the tax increase he is looking for when the special session starts Monday.

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Holden says he thinks top lawmakers are becoming more receptive to his budget proposal, which includes tax increases as opposed to cuts.

But House Speaker Catherine Hanaway says the Governor has not been successfull in his attempt to get lawmakers or voters on board.

In particular, she said Holden's ad campaign urging voters to call lawmakers in support of tax increases has not had much impact:

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Contents: "I'm hearing quite the opposite from our members. I know even with the ads running with my phone number on them, the calls on our office even after the ads began at best are running 50-50, prior to that they were running 10-1 anti-tax."

Holden says he thinks now that lawmakers are back in their disctricts and can see the effects of budget cuts first hand, they may reconsider.

From the State Capitol, I'm Elizabeth Gill.