GOP to present budget proposal

INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana Senate Republicans plan to present a tax-and-budget proposal on Thursday that would give Democratic Gov. Frank O'Bannon some new money to help shore up the budget deficit.\nSenate President Pro Tem Robert Garton declined to give specifics Wednesday, but said the plan would include new money that could be used to help plug a projected $1 billion budget shortfall.\nThat alone would mark a major shift in position among Senate Republicans, who control the chamber 32-18. During the regular session that ended March 14, they insisted that O'Bannon could manage the deficit without any revenue from tax increases.\nO'Bannon already has set a special session to begin May 14 to address the state's deficit and tax restructuring. He plans to continue private talks with legislative fiscal leaders on Thursday in hopes they can strike a deal before all lawmakers return next month.\n"I think we all must be conditioned to the fact that there will be higher taxes, because the administration is absolutely insisting on it and I don't think the Legislature can go home without doing it," Garton said Wednesday after Senate Republicans met privately for four hours.\nGarton said he was convinced that if lawmakers adjourned a special session after 40 days without raising taxes, O'Bannon would simply call them back again.\n"The governor is going to keep us here long enough to get his tax increase," Garton said.\nGarton described the proposal to be presented Thursday as an economic development plan, but said nobody was guaranteeing it could pass either house or gain wide approval in any of the four legislative caucuses.\nDuring the regular session, Garton said he was opposed to any tax increase this year. He said taxes should not be raised during a recession and that restructuring should wait until next year, when more will be known about the effects of reassessment.\nWhen asked Wednesday if he had softened his stance on restructuring, he said, "In a sense."\n"I still think it's better to work with facts rather than projections, but ... I certainly don't want to spend the rest of my life in the Legislature," he said.\n"I think it's appropriate that we do submit a plan and I support doing so."\nO'Bannon spokeswoman Mary Dieter said she was pleased Senate Republicans would put a new proposal on the table.\n"We are so happy that Senate Republicans recognize that we have lots we can do in this state to improve the lot of Hoosiers," she said.