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Article: State budget stymied by tax-hike demands.(The Orange County Register)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- August 7, 2002
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The following editorial appears in The Orange County Register on August 8, 2002.
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Cigarettes at $8 a pack? That was the latest awful proposal from Democrats in the Legislature to close the last portion of a $24 billion gap in the state's 2002-03 budget.
In June, the Senate passed a doubling of the car tax (costing an average of $84 for each vehicle) and a 63-cent hike in cigarette taxes (to $1.50 total per pack). But Republicans in the Assembly balked and the budget failed.
This week, Assembly Democrats dropped the car tax increase (They don't want all those soccer moms and dads mad at them). But they still refused to cut waste ...