From U.S. News & World Report, 1/28/04:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=926&ncid=959&e=3&u=/usnews/20040128/ts_usnews/whattaxcut

What Tax Cut?

BY LEONARD WIENER

You might want to relish that tax cut George Bush gave you last
year--the one he argued in the State of the Union address last week
should be made permanent.

That's because for all the dollars the feds are letting you keep, the
states are scrambling to grab some of them right back with tax
increases and a plethora of user fees and other levies designed to
fill their bare coffers.

States are in a fiscal bind partly because they raised their budgets
in the 1990s to meet rising social needs, then saw revenue plummet.

Most tie their income tax to the federal Internal Revenue Service
filings.

The combination of declining taxpayer income, new federal breaks, and
often ill-advised state tax cuts caused a slash in revenue.

Facing yawning budget gaps--totaling about $200 billion over the past
three years--state legislatures are trying to ease the revenue squeeze
by disconnecting their tax rules from the federal system.

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Have ya spent your "tax cut" yet? Too bad. Now ya gotta give it back.

Harry