BUDGET HITS SNAG ON TAXES : WILSON COULD DROP ACROSS-BOARD CUT.Byline: Mark Katches Daily News Sacramento Bureau Talks to resolve the state budget impasse im·passe n. 1. A road or passage having no exit; a cul-de-sac. 2. A situation that is so difficult that no progress can be made; a deadlock or a stalemate: reached an impasse in the negotiations. broke down Thursday over the issue of taxes, with Gov. Pete Wilson For others named Pete Wilson, see . Peter Barton Wilson (born August 23, 1933) is an American Republican politician from California. Wilson served as the thirty-sixth Governor of California (1991–1999), the culmination of more than three decades in the public arena that indicating he might be willing to drop his proposal for an across-the-board 15 percent personal income tax cut. ``I'm realistic,'' Wilson said. ``There is evidently the opposition to that, which I think is very much mistaken.'' Democrats have argued that the across-the-board personal income tax would take too much money from schools and favors the wealthiest Californians, who received a tax break last year when the highest rate dropped from 11 percent to 9.3 percent. Democrats said they are more receptive receptive /re·cep·tive/ (re-cep´tiv) capable of receiving or of responding to a stimulus. toward a business tax cut. ``The corporate tax rate shouldn't be fourth highest in the country,'' said Senate Majority Leader Bill Lockyer William Westwood "Bill" Lockyer (born May 8, 1941) is the current State Treasurer of California. Prior to this, he served as California's Attorney General and head of the Department of Justice for the U.S. state of California. , D-Hayward. ``We need to bring that rate down some.'' The current bank and corporate tax rate is 9.3 percent. Wilson's initial proposal would drop it to 7.9 percent. He is now asking for a cut to 8.1 percent. But Lockyer said he would have trouble getting even a modest reduction to 8.9 percent. Wilson, however, said a small reduction would do little to improve the business climate in California. ``They're saying they are just unwilling to make a change that would give a significant reduction, one that could really help in making California competitive, and frankly that's just not good enough,'' the governor said. ``There is a real necessity to make California competitive in the area in particular of taxes on business,'' Wilson told reporters. A meeting of the ``Big 5'' leaders - Lockyer; Senate Minority Leader Rob Hurtt Robert S. Hurtt, Jr. (born May 19 1944) is a U.S. Republican politician, who was the California State Senate Republican Leader from August 1995 to March 1996. A native Californian, Hurtt was born in Santa Monica, he has resided in Orange County since graduating from , R-Garden Grove; Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle Curtis L. "Curt" Pringle (born June 27, 1959), is a politician from the U.S. state of California. Pringle, a conservative/libertarian Republican and onetime Speaker of the California State Assembly, is currently Mayor of Anaheim, California and runs his own public relations and , R-Garden Grove; Assembly Minority Leader Richard Katz, D-Panorama City; and Wilson - ended after just 15 minutes Thursday over the issue of taxes. ``The governor's walking away from (the personal) tax cut is a good start,'' Katz said. ``We still have to resolve the amount of the (business tax) cut and how we target it to businesses that create jobs, particularly in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, .'' |
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