THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 19, 1995 TAG: 9501190385
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVID M. POOLE AND MARGARET EDDS, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
Gov. George F. Allen conceded Wednesday that his sweeping tax-cut proposal could be in jeopardy as emboldened Democratic lawmakers hone their argument that enacting the plan would plunge state government unnecessarily into debt.
``I think it is going to be very close,'' Allen told reporters at a hastily arranged afternoon press conference.
Even as Allen spoke, Democrats opened another front in their assault, condemning proposed cuts in public education funding as being harshest in the neediest districts.
Dismissing criticism of his five-year, $2.1 billion tax cut as ``politics as usual,'' Allen repeated his double-dare for any lawmaker to stand in the way of cutting taxes in a year when all 140 seats in the Virginia General Assembly will be on the ballot.
``If they are going to be blustery, they are going to be held accountable by the people,'' he said.
Allen was responding to Democrats from the House of Delegates who earlier in the day produced an oversized chart with figures purporting to back their claim that Allen is paying for the tax cut with borrowed money.
The chart showed that Allen wants to cut taxes over the next two years by $393 million, roughly the same amount he wants to borrow to build new prisons.
House Speaker Thomas W. Moss Jr. of Norfolk said the argument that there is no need to borrow money for prisons if the state has the revenue available is providing lawmakers - Democrats and Republicans alike - with ``political cover'' to buck Allen.
House Majority Leader C. Richard Cranwell of Roanoke County agreed that support for the tax cut is becoming ``a lot more shaky than it was a few days ago.''
Allen maintained that his administration would pay for the first year of the tax cut by slicing $403 million in spending. Long-term debt, he added, is a separate item and a time-honored method for financing prison construction.
Allen said Democrats would bust the budget if they made good on their calls to restore proposed cuts and to pay for prisons through current revenue. ``They cannot have it both ways,'' he said.
Lawmakers focused Wednesday on proposed cuts in public education, noting that cities and some rural counties are losing more than their wealthier suburban neighbors.
The city of Roanoke, for instance, had expected to get $69 more per pupil for its schools from the state next year. Instead, under Allen's proposed budget cuts, the hike will be $47.
Roanoke County is getting less than expected too. But its cut is only $3 off the $51 per pupil increase approved by the legislature last year.
The urban-suburban split held true in Hampton Roads, also. Allen's cuts would cost Portsmouth $28 of the $80 increase promised by the legislature last year. Virginia Beach would lose $12 of its $58 hike.
Those numbers, contained in a House Appropriations Committee budget analysis, set off a howl of protest Wednesday from lawmakers in urban and some rural areas. Cuts seemed especially dramatic there partly because the legislature had set aside extra money to help bring poorer districts into line with wealthier ones.
``You cannot take $68 per child out of a school system and not severely impact the education,'' said Del. Thomas Jackson, D-Hillsville, referring to the loss in Buchanan County, located in the far southwest. An $86 per pupil hike approved for that county last year would drop to $18 under the Allen plan.
House Republicans countered that the proposed changes make the increases in various localities more equitable. And they said the key point is that almost every Virginia locality will be getting more education dollars next year, even with Allen's budget cuts.
``You can't really say they're losing money because they're going to get more,'' said Del. Pete Giesen, R-Waynesboro.
``They're losing money they were promised,'' countered Jackson. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
House of Delegates Majority Leader C. Richard Cranwell, holding a
chart on Gov. Allen's spending plan, said support for Allen's tax
cut is ``a lot more shaky than it was a few days ago.''
KEYWORDS: BUDGET CUT VIRGINIA SCHOOLS PER PUPIL COST GENERAL
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