<p>A glance at the 2000 personal financial disclosure reports filed by Georgia members of Congress, made public Thursday.</p>
<p> ---</p>
<p> Senior Senator</p>
<p> Name: Max Cleland</p>
<p> Party: Democrat</p>
<p> Earned Income: $191,019</p>
<p> Honoraria, all donated to charity: $6,300</p>
<p> Major assets: Bank account, $15,000-$50,000</p>
<p> Major sources of unearned income: None</p>
<p> Major liabilities: $10,000-$15,000 in credit card loans</p>
<p> Gifts: None</p>
<p> Narrative: Cleland, a decorated veteran who lost both legs and an arm in a Vietnam War grenade blast, was compensated $39,719 last year by the Veterans Administration. He also received $10,000 from Longstreet Press for a publishing agreement on his book, Going for the Max. The American Trial Lawyers Association funded Cleland's trip to Chicago last August, and Stetson University paid for his lodging in DeLand, Fla., when he spoke there in March.</p>
<p> ---</p>
<p> Junior Senator</p>
<p> Name: Zell B. Miller</p>
<p> Party: Democrat</p>
<p> Earned Income: $456,806</p>
<p> Honoraria, all donated to charity: None.</p>
<p> Major assets: Ownership of a Young Harris, Ga., radio station, $100,000-$250,000; Stock in Gray Communications Systems of Atlanta, $50,000-$100,000.</p>
<p> Major sources of unearned income: Blind trust shared by Miller and his wife, Shirley, $250,000-$500,000; stock in United Community Banks $50,000-$100,000.</p>
<p> Major liabilities: None</p>
<p> Gifts: None</p>
<p> Narrative: Miller, a former two-term governor, took about a $300,000 pay cut when he agreed to be appointed and then elected to the Senate last year. He had to give up $130,000 in salaries as a professor at two universities, Young Harris and the University of Georgia. In addition, he gave up $56,250 in consultant fees from Philip Morris Management Corporation and director's fees from numerous companies. Miller owns a radio station in Young Harris and rents out a mobile home that he owns.</p>
<p> ---</p>
<p> District: 1</p>
<p> Name: Jack Kingston</p>
<p> Party: Republican</p>
<p> Earned Income: $141,300</p>
<p> Honoraria, all donated to charity: $1,000</p>
<p> Major assets: Stock in Palmer & Cay/Carswell, an insurance company, $1 million-$5 million; ownership of three residences in Savannah, Ga., and one in Tybee Island, Ga., $265,000-$650,000; 401(k) retirement plan $250,000-$500,000.</p>
<p> Major sources of unearned income: Rent of $16,000-$47,500 from four properties in Savannah and Tybee Island, Ga.</p>
<p> Major liabilities: Mortgage on rental property, $15,000-$50,000</p>
<p> Gifts: None</p>
<p> Narrative: Kingston received a $1,000 honoraria, which he donated to charity, for appearing on the TV show "Politically Incorrect" and was also reimbursed for his expenses. He made one trip from Savannah to San Francisco paid for by the National Meat Association.</p>
<p> ---</p>
<p> District: 2</p>
<p> Name: Sanford D. Bishop Jr.</p>
<p> Party: Democrat</p>
<p> Earned Income: $141,300</p>
<p> Honoraria, all donated to charity: None</p>
<p> Major assets: Rental property in Columbus, Ga., $50,000-$100,000; lot on Lake Hartwell, $1,000-$15,000.</p>
<p> Major sources of unearned income: Rent on Columbus house, $5,000-$15,000.</p>
<p> Major liabilities: Mortgage on rental property, $15,000-$50,000; revolving charge account at Congressional Federal Credit Union, $10,000-$15,000</p>
<p> Gifts: None</p>
<p> Narrative: Expenses for Bishop's trip from Washinbgton to New York were reimbursed by the New York Stock Exchanged, Bell Atlantic and the Humpty Dumpty Institute.</p>
<p> ---</p>
<p> District: 3</p>
<p> Name: Michael A. "Mac" Collins</p>
<p> Party: Republican</p>
<p> Earned Income: $160,500</p>
<p> Honoraria, all donated to charity: $1,500</p>
<p> Major assets: Collins Trucking Co., $500,000-$1 million</p>
<p> Major sources of unearned income: None</p>
<p> Major liabilities: None</p>
<p> Gifts: None</p>
<p> Narrative: Collins earned $19,200 as an adviser for his family-owned trucking company. He gave to charities a $1,500 honoraria from a speech he gave to the American Leadership Conference. Collins traveled from Atlanta to Rome in November and was reimbursed by the Ripon Educational Fund.</p>
<p> ---</p>
<p> District: 4</p>
<p> Name: Cynthia A. McKinney</p>
<p> Party: Democrat</p>
<p> Earned Income: $141,300</p>
<p> Honoraria, all donated to charity: None</p>
<p> Major assets: None</p>
<p> Major sources of unearned income: None</p>
<p> Major liabilities: None</p>
<p> Gifts: None</p>
<p> Narrative: ADA-Michigan reimbursed McKinney for a trip from Atlanta to Detroit in September, and Western New York Peace Center reimbursed her for a trip from Atlanta to Buffalo in November.</p>
<p> ---</p>
<p> District: 5</p>
<p> Name: John Lewis</p>
<p> Party: Democrat</p>
<p> Earned Income: $141,300</p>
<p> Honoraria, all donated to charity: None</p>
<p> Major assets: None</p>
<p> Major sources of unearned income: None</p>
<p> Major liabilities: None</p>
<p> Gifts: None</p>
<p> Narrative: Lewis took 37 trips that were financed by private interest or educational groups, but none out of the country. Many of them were to discuss his role in the civil rights movement or campaign for other congressional Democrats.</p>
<p> ---</p>
<p> District: 6</p>
<p> Name: Johnny Isakson</p>
<p> Party: Republican</p>
<p> Earned Income: $221,300</p>
<p> Honoraria, all donated to charity: None</p>
<p> Major assets: Southtrust Corp. stock and Sun Trust tax-free bonds, each $500,000-$1 million; Stricklin Capital stock, Georgia residence, First Sterling Bank stock, Riverside Bank stock, Cherokee County real estate, each worth $250,001-$500,000</p>
<p> Major sources of unearned income: Rent, interest and capital gains from Stricklin Capital, $100,000-$1 million; capital gains on sale of Cherokee County real estate, $100,000-$1 million; stock in IBM, Protective Life, Regions Financial, Winstar Communications, $100,000-$250,000 each.</p>
<p> Major liabilities: Mortgage on Cherokee County real estate, $65,000-$150,000; margin account $50,000-$100,000.</p>
<p> Gifts: None</p>
<p> Narrative: According to financial disclosure reports, Isakson is the wealthiest member of Georgia's congressional delegation. He listed 95 assets, valued between $5.2 million and $12.2 million.</p>
<p> ---</p>
<p> District: 7</p>
<p> Name: Bob Barr</p>
<p> Party: Republican</p>
<p> Barr was granted an extension to file, and his disclore form wasn't released Thursday.</p>
<p> ---</p>
<p> District: 8</p>
<p> Name: Saxby Chambliss</p>
<p> Party: Republican</p>
<p> Earned Income: $141,300</p>
<p> Honoraria, all doanted to charity: None</p>
<p> Major assets: Dividends from Southwest Georgia Financial Corporation, $15,000-$50,000.</p>
<p> Major sources of unearned income: None</p>
<p> Major liabilities: Credit card loans with Congressional Federal Credit Union, $15,000-$50,000</p>
<p> Gifts: None</p>
<p> Narrative: Safari Club International reimbursed Chambliss for last February's trip to Reno, Nev., and Mead Corp. reimbured him for last September's trip to Jacksonville, Fla.</p>
<p> ---</p>
<p> District: 9</p>
<p> Name: Nathan Deal</p>
<p> Party: Republican</p>
<p> Earned Income: $163,500</p>
<p> Honoraria, all donated to charity: None</p>
<p> Major assets: Half interest in Gainesville, Ga., real estate worth $250,000-$500,000. Half interest in freightliner truck, $15,000-$50,000. Ten acres of Georgia real estate, collectively worth $200,000-$500,000. Two mutual funds collectively worth between $15,000-$50,000.</p>
<p> Major sources of unearned income: Rent on Gainesville real estate and freightliner truck, both at $15,000-$50,000.</p>
<p> Major liabilities: Mortgages totaling $300,000-$700,000 on Gainesville properties; business loans totaling $230,000-$550,000.</p>
<p> Gifts: None</p>
<p> Narrative: In addition to his $141,300 congressional salary, Deal received $21,100 from Recovery Sources Inc., a family-owned business, and $1,100 for the sale of yearling heifers from his farm.</p>
<p> ---</p>
<p> District: 10</p>
<p> Name: Charlie Norwood</p>
<p> Party: Republican</p>
<p> Norwood was granted an extension to file, and his disclosure report was not released Thursday.</p>
<p> ---</p>
<p> District: 11</p>
<p> Name: John Linder</p>
<p> Party: Republican</p>
<p> Earned Income: $141,300</p>
<p> Honoraria, all donated to charity: None</p>
<p> Major assets: Dividends from Grayling Industries Inc., $1 million-$5 million; note from sale of Linder Financial Corp., $500,000-$1 million.</p>
<p> Major sources of unearned income: Dividends from Grayling Industries, $100,000-$1 million; rent from Cedarwild Resort, $50,000-$100,000; dividends and capital gains from profit-sharing trust, $100,000-$1 million.</p>
<p> Major liabilities: None</p>
<p> Gifts: None</p>
<p> Narrative: Linder made trips to New York and Boston in January and March 2000 and was reimbursed by Americans for Fair Taxation. Citizens for a Sound Economy paid for his trip to Des Moines, Iowa, last June.
</p>

<p>
Here's a sampling of editorial opinion from around the state:</p>
<p> August 12</p>
<p> Las Cruces Sun News, on student credit card debt:</p>
<p> It's been a couple of years since Tom Udall was New Mexico attorney general, but he hasn't lost his interest in consumer issues.</p>
<p> Udall, now a Democratic New Mexico congressman from the 3rd congressional district in the northern part of the state, has put into the political spotlight an issue that is most appropriate as another school year begins: college students who get in trouble from credit-card debt.</p>
<p> Specifically, Udall is calling attention to a new General Accounting Office
<br />
(GAO) report which confirms that college students are vulnerable to high credit card debt. In almost an understatement of a conclusion, the GAO finds that the "consistent misuse of credit cards by college students, particularly combined with student loan debt, could lead to substantial debt burdens." No kidding!, a number of college students hit with such debt problems would no doubt exclaim, a concern shared by parents who choose to come to the rescue to help their kids pay off credit card debt.</p>
<p> Udall, in a press release from his Washington, D.C., office, said the report represented a good first step in understanding credit card excess by college students and the credit card industry's "tenacious drive to sign up college students."</p>
<p> "Additionally, the report clearly demonstrates the need for further congressional action including more investigation, oversight hearings and legislative remedies," said Udall.</p>
<p> The big government approach no doubt might strike temporary fear into the hearts of the credit card companies, but it doesn't get to the crux of what needs to be done on the students' side of things: better financial education at an earlier age and a heightened sense of individual responsibility.</p>
<p> The need for these characteristics is emphasized in the following statements from the GAO report:</p>
<p> "...some university officials and debt counseling services told us that they believed that college students were more likely than other types of credit card users to run up debts they could not pay because of their financial inexperience. This problem could become particularly severe after graduation, when many students must begin making payments on educational loans (about half of college students leave schools with an average of $19,400 in student loans)."</p>
<p> ...</p>
<p> To Udall's credit, he does not see government intervention as the only solution. He says that financial literacy classes should be urged for high school and college students, noting that 14 percent of college students in the GAO study said they had credit cards in high school.</p>
<p> Such an emphasis on financial education also should serve to help bring about the sense of personal responsibility that individuals should develop with regards to the sensible use of credit cards.</p>
<p>
August 10</p>
<p> Portales News Tribune, on Buyback America:</p>
<p> In a rebuke to a pointless Clinton-era gun-control policy, the U.S. Senate recently agreed with the Bush White House and put an end to Buyback America. The program earmarked $15 million to local police departments to buy guns from residents in and near public housing projects.</p>
<p> Launched in July 2000, Buyback America was one of those PR-heavy efforts we 've come to associate with the former president. He said it would stop "an untold number of gun accidents, suicides and crimes." But beyond creating another opportunity for soundbites, it did little but waste taxpayer dollars.</p>
<p> There were many problems with the program. First, we're always leery of federal programs that intrude on a local function, namely law enforcement. Second, the program was unlikely to achieve any of its goals. For instance, in a study of gun buyback programs, the Medical College of Wisconsin reported that "Guns captured by buyback programs generally are not those associated with gun deaths."</p>
<p> As one of the Milwaukee physicians pointed out, "The typical buyback handgun is older and of smaller caliber, more of an antique than a weapon." Clearly it's not criminals with lucrative uses for their high-powered weapons who show up at buyback centers and turn in their expensive weapons for $50.</p>
<p> But the biggest problem with the program is the dishonest premise on which it is based. Supporters of buybacks, and those who endorses strict gun controls in general, believe the mere existence of weapons in a household is such a danger that it's always worth discarding weapons. But extensive research by Yale researcher John Lott Jr. shows that guns are far more likely to be used by individuals for defensive purposes than for crimes.</p>
<p> So encouraging law-abiding people in some of America's roughest neighborhoods to disarm themselves leaves them vulnerable. The more a community disarms, the more emboldened its criminals become...</p>
<p> Even the Democrat-dominated Senate understood the foolishness of Buyback America. Maybe the Bush year will usher in more common sense with regard to guns. One can only hope so.</p>
<p>
August 17</p>
<p> Roswell Daily Record, on President Bush's foreign policy:</p>
<p> Europeans don't like the way President Bush is handling foreign policy.</p>
<p> Europeans in four countries, Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy, were asked if they approved of Bush's policies. Approval ranged from one in six in France to three in 10 in Italy.</p>
<p> The problem, it seems, is that they believe Bush makes his decisions based on U.S. interests.</p>
<p> Well, duh.</p>
<p> What did they expect? That Bush would put the interest of Europeans, or even the rest of the world, ahead of those of his country?</p>
<p> How long would British Prime Minister Tony Blair stay in office if British voters thought he was more concerned about the German economy or French farmers than about those in Great Britain?</p>
<p> Former President Bill Clinton got a much higher rating on his international policies - from two-thirds among the French to almost nine in 10 in Germany.</p>
<p> Does that mean Clinton was more willing to sacrifice American interests for the sake of European interests, or for the sake of his liberal agendas? We certainly hope not.</p>
<p> More likely is that Clinton's views on some key issues, which are liberal by American standards, are much closer to those of the average European than Bush's views. Or, perhaps, Clinton was less candid in making his views known.</p>
<p> European leaders have blasted Bush for his vocal opposition to the Kyoto protocol on global warming, but Clinton never pushed for its passage and, in a trial vote, the Senate rejected the treaty 95-0.</p>
<p> If fact, we wonder how much support the protocol really has in Europe. Despite the attacks on Bush for voicing his opposition to the treaty, only Rumania among European countries has actually ratified the treaty. No doubt, leaders of other industrialized nations are privately applauding Bush's opposition even while he is publicly pummeled.</p>
<p> But Bush may be less concerned about what the average European thinks about his stands than what the average American thinks. Even those who disagree with his stand on Kyoto and his proposed missile-defense system have to appreciate the fact that he is taking stands based on what he perceives as the best American interests, regardless of the opposition of others.</p>
<p> We should be concerned about the effects on others in the world of what the United States does from the standpoint of justice and humanity. We want to do what's right and we care about other people around the world.</p>
<p> We also recognize that what happens to people in other parts of the world affects us. We do all live in the same world and are interdependent in many ways.</p>
<p> But, in common with everyone else around the world, we put our own interests ahead of others and we expect our leaders to do the same.</p>
<p> Perhaps Bush's greatest offense is not that he puts American interests first but that he has been honest about his attitude.</p>
<p>
August 14</p>
<p> Clovis News Journal, on privatizing the postal system:</p>
<p> Have you noticed that mail delivery has been tardier than usual lately?</p>
<p> "New delivery standards implemented by the U.S. Postal Service earlier this year are adding an extra day for first-class mail delivery to most cities in the West," reported the Associated Press.</p>
<p> The reason: The Postal Service has switched some services from planes to ground transportation because of flight delays, said Chuck Gannon, national manager for service standards. It's true the nation's air traffic system needs an overhaul; privatization of air traffic control and airports would help.</p>
<p> But the Postal Service is slow, and it has a monopoly on first-class mail.</p>
<p> The last time privatization or breaking the monopoly was seriously on the table was 1988, in the waning days of the Reagan administration. Jim Miller, then the director of the Office of Management and Budget, made a valiant but ultimately unsuccessful push for postal reform. Now a counselor for Citizens for a Sound Economy, he says one way to improve deliveries would be to privatize the Postal Service.</p>
<p> But even better, he said, would be to end the monopoly.</p>
<p> "There is some concern for postal issues in the Bush administration. But every administration has to be driven by the very short run." he said. The catalyst could be an impending Postal Service operating deficit, causing mush greater price increases that would slam consumers, even as consumers switch more and more to e-mail.</p>
<p> Germany, Holland and Great Britain have privatized mail delivery. It's time for the United States to do the same.
</p>

<p>For the average taxpayer, a tax is a tax.</p>
<p> That's not the case at the North Carolina Legislature.</p>
<p> There are tax loopholes and local option taxes - two of the less onerous versions in legislative parlance. There are "sin" taxes that put it to people who engage in dubious activities such as drinking alcohol.</p>
<p> And there's the sales tax - regressive to liberals but more politically palatable to moderates.</p>
<p> Of course, there's also the income tax, something lawmakers speak of in hushed tones and would never dream of mentioning in the same sentence with the words "hike" or "increase."</p>
<p> In a year when the state is facing an $850 million shortfall and bleak revenue prospects for the next fiscal year, there's bound to be plenty of tax talk.</p>
<p> Most of it comes from people trying to stem a tide of state agency cuts, especially to social programs, in the Senate budget proposal passed two weeks ago.</p>
<p> But it doesn't stop there.</p>
<p> There is a growing din from county and municipal officials who have wanted another piece of the sales tax pie for years. They think the budget crisis may provide the opportunity to get it.</p>
<p> Counties, cities and towns now get 2 percent of the 6 percent sales tax in the state.</p>
<p> And in the world of local government, property taxes are akin to income taxes. Raising them is something to be avoided at all costs.</p>
<p> A sales tax, though, that's a little easier to digest. Taken in bites of a penny here, a quarter there, a dollar here, it's hardly noticeable.</p>
<p> That hasn't been lost on lawmakers - Democrats and Republicans alike - who have continually filed bills to try to get "local option" sales tax increases in their specific counties.</p>
<p> Although those kinds of bills haven't gone anywhere, the political variety of lawmakers who have filed them has given county officials hope.</p>
<p> It's a hope spawned by the recognition that a Senate package of targeted tax increases - particular a phone tax and satellite television tax - likely won't survive in a House budget.</p>
<p> House budget writers also aren't thrilled with many of the Senate cuts to agencies and services, and are looking for additional money somewhere.</p>
<p> "We're exploring every rock," says Rep. David Redwine, D-Brunswick, co-chair of the House budget committee.</p>
<p> But in a closely divided House where Republicans vow to defeat any tax increase, finding more money won't be easy.</p>
<p> Still, many House Republicans - and conservative Democrats for that matter - see local sales taxes differently. Ultimately it is up to county commissioners, not legislators, to pull the trigger and levy the taxes.</p>
<p> Giving the local governments the ability to levy an additional half cent, as some lawmakers have advocated, would allow the Legislature to pull back $330 million in reimbursements to local governments.</p>
<p> "It ends up a nice confluence of interests," said Ron Aycock of the N.C. Association of County Commissioners.</p>
<p> Also banging the tax hike drum is a coalition of rest home and health-related groups. They released a poll last week indicating that a vote to raise the sales tax by 1 percent would make no difference to 54 percent of voters.</p>
<p> In the poll of 611 likely voters, just 31 percent said a sales tax increase would make them less likely to support a candidate.</p>
<p> "It's like the General Assembly thinks voters are the big, bad wolf, and I don't think they need to be afraid of the big, bad wolf," said rest home official Lou Wilson.</p>
<p> The N.C. Association of Educators also began airing ads last weekend urging voters to contact lawmakers and tell them to "stop the cuts."</p>
<p> Meanwhile, the conservative Citizens for a Sound Economy came to Raleigh to let lawmakers know they would be tracking votes on any tax hike proposals.</p>
<p> Redwine said last week that decisions about how or whether to raise additional revenue haven't yet "bubbled up."</p>
<p> Privately, lawmakers say there is more momentum for some kind of a local tax-reimbursement trade-off but the votes still aren't there.</p>
<p> This much is certain - the key decisions that shape the House plan will be made soon.
</p>

<p>Conservatives urged lawmakers Tuesday to cut spending and avoid tax increases, countering earlier rallies where protesters urged tax hikes rather than cuts in state services.</p>
<p> Chanting "We Want Less," about 200 members of the anti-tax group Citizens for a Sound Economy also called on the Legislature to defeat any legislation to establish a lottery in North Carolina.</p>
<p> "The economy, while it was good, the legislators were just grabbing all they could. Now that the economy is going bad, they look to us for a tax increase," said Lorrie Hedgecock, a CSE member from Stokes County.</p>
<p> The group's rally was held less than a week after the Senate approved a $14.7 billion budget plan that included $190 million in targeted tax increases and tax loophole closings.</p>
<p> The plan also includes numerous cuts to social programs. The proposed cuts, denounced by advocates for the poor and disabled, are intended to help balance the budget and avoid a broad tax increase during the state's worst budget crisis in decade.</p>
<p> The Senate proposals to raise a handful of sales taxes, particularly those targeted at out-of-state long distance telephone calls and satellite television, are expected to be dropped from the House version.</p>
<p> However, House leaders are exploring the closing of additional corporate tax loopholes, raising taxes on alcohol and giving local governments the ability to raise sales taxes in exchange for pulling back $330 million in state reimbursements.</p>
<p> Senate leader Marc Basnight also has said he was willing to consider a tax on beer, wine and liquor, even though no such increases were included in the Senate budget package.</p>
<p> Speaking at Tuesday's rally, Rep. Leo Daughtry, R-Johnston, called the Senate budget proposal "a joke."</p>
<p> "Tax loopholes are nothing but thinly disguised tax increases," said Daughtry, the House minority leader and a GOP candidate for governor last spring.</p>
<p> Daughtry is among 61 House members who have signed a no-tax pledge circulated by Citizens for a Sound Economy prior to last year's election.</p>
<p> Daughtry said it is up to the group's members to make sure lawmakers keep their pledge.</p>
<p> "I am committed to not raising taxes," he said.</p>
<p> But many of the lawmakers who signed the pledge, both Democrats and Republicans, have sponsored bills that, if approved, would allow counties to raise sales taxes. Some of the legislation is targeted at individual counties while other bills would allow all counties authority to boost their sales tax rate.</p>
<p> U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., also told the crowd they could influence what their lawmakers do.</p>
<p> "We the people are the government. You are the government," Jones said. "Stay involved."</p>
<p> Jones also urged lawmakers to reject a state lottery, which Gov. Mike Easley has endorsed as a way to pay for improving the public schools.</p>
<p> "I hope that the state of North Carolina and this General Assembly do not turn to gambling to educate the children of North Carolina," Jones said.</p>
<p> Also attending Tuesday's rally were former U.S. Sen. Lauch Faircloth and CSE 's national president, Paul Beckner.</p>
<p> Following the event, organization officials met with Attorney General Roy Cooper to lobby him to drop the state from those involved in the antitrust action against Microsoft.</p>
<p> Citizens for a Sound Economy has faced criticism in the past for weighing in on the Microsoft debate after the software maker gave $380,000 to the group's tax-exempt foundation.
</p>

<p>For the average taxpayer, a tax is a tax.</p>
<p> That's not the case at the North Carolina Legislature.</p>
<p> There are tax loopholes and local option taxes - two of the less onerous versions in legislative parlance. There are "sin" taxes that put it to people who engage in dubious activities such as drinking alcohol.</p>
<p> And there's the sales tax - regressive to liberals but more politically palatable to moderates.</p>
<p> Of course, there's also the income tax, something lawmakers speak of in hushed tones and would never dream of mentioning in the same sentence with the words "hike" or "increase."</p>
<p> In a year when the state is facing an $850 million shortfall and bleak revenue prospects for the next fiscal year, there's bound to be plenty of tax talk.</p>
<p> Most of it comes from people trying to stem a tide of state agency cuts, especially to social programs, in the Senate budget proposal passed two weeks ago.</p>
<p> But it doesn't stop there.</p>
<p> There is a growing din from county and municipal officials who have wanted another piece of the sales tax pie for years. They think the budget crisis may provide the opportunity to get it.</p>
<p> Counties, cities and towns now get 2 percent of the 6 percent sales tax in the state.</p>
<p> And in the world of local government, property taxes are akin to income taxes. Raising them is something to be avoided at all costs.</p>
<p> A sales tax, though, that's a little easier to digest. Taken in bites of a penny here, a quarter there, a dollar here, it's hardly noticeable.</p>
<p> That hasn't been lost on lawmakers - Democrats and Republicans alike - who have continually filed bills to try to get "local option" sales tax increases in their specific counties.</p>
<p> Although those kinds of bills haven't gone anywhere, the political variety of lawmakers who have filed them has given county officials hope.</p>
<p> It's a hope spawned by the recognition that a Senate package of targeted tax increases - particular a phone tax and satellite television tax - likely won't survive in a House budget.</p>
<p> House budget writers also aren't thrilled with many of the Senate cuts to agencies and services, and are looking for additional money somewhere.</p>
<p> "We're exploring every rock," says Rep. David Redwine, D-Brunswick, co-chair of the House budget committee.</p>
<p> But in a closely divided House where Republicans vow to defeat any tax increase, finding more money won't be easy.</p>
<p> Still, many House Republicans - and conservative Democrats for that matter - see local sales taxes differently. Ultimately it is up to county commissioners, not legislators, to pull the trigger and levy the taxes.</p>
<p> Giving the local governments the ability to levy an additional half cent, as some lawmakers have advocated, would allow the Legislature to pull back $330 million in reimbursements to local governments.</p>
<p> "It ends up a nice confluence of interests," said Ron Aycock of the N.C. Association of County Commissioners.</p>
<p> Also banging the tax hike drum is a coalition of rest home and health-related groups. They released a poll last week indicating that a vote to raise the sales tax by 1 percent would make no difference to 54 percent of voters.</p>
<p> In the poll of 611 likely voters, just 31 percent said a sales tax increase would make them less likely to support a candidate.</p>
<p> "It's like the General Assembly thinks voters are the big, bad wolf, and I don't think they need to be afraid of the big, bad wolf," said rest home official Lou Wilson.</p>
<p> The N.C. Association of Educators also began airing ads last weekend urging voters to contact lawmakers and tell them to "stop the cuts."</p>
<p> Meanwhile, the conservative Citizens for a Sound Economy came to Raleigh to let lawmakers know they would be tracking votes on any tax hike proposals.</p>
<p> Redwine said last week that decisions about how or whether to raise additional revenue haven't yet "bubbled up."</p>
<p> Privately, lawmakers say there is more momentum for some kind of a local tax-reimbursement trade-off but the votes still aren't there.</p>
<p> This much is certain - the key decisions that shape the House plan will be made soon.
</p>

<p>The bewildering federal income tax system should be replaced with something simpler and far less burdensome, a coalition of interest groups and two senior House Republicans said Thursday. Like previous such efforts, this one faces an uphill fight.</p>
<p> The 19 organizations that form the Coalition for Fundamental Tax Reform favor different solutions ranging from a flat, single-rate income tax applied equally to all taxpayers to the replacement of the income tax with a national sales tax.</p>
<p> They all agree that the current federal income tax system administered by the Internal Revenue Service is far too complex and intrusive, robs people of incentive to earn money and contains too many loopholes and special breaks exploited by powerful businesses and wealthy taxpayers. The incoming Congress and new president have a perfect opportunity to began an overhaul, they said.</p>
<p> "Our tax system is broken. It has to be fixed," said Jim Miller, a former budget director for President Reagan now affiliated with Citizens for a Sound
<br />
Economy, a group that advocates lower taxes and less government.</p>
<p> The groups in the coalition include several pro-taxpayer organizations such as the National Taxpayers Union, conservative think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation and associations representing small businesses, the elderly, building contractors and landlords. They want:</p>
<p> -A single, low tax rate applied to all taxpayers.</p>
<p> -Tax relief and a system that promotes economic growth and job creation.</p>
<p> -More taxpayer rights and fewer tax collection abuses.</p>
<p> -A required two-thirds vote in Congress to raise tax rates or expand the tax base.</p>
<p> At a Capitol Hill news conference, the groups drew support from Republican Reps. Phil Crane of Illinois and Bill Thomas of California, the two leading candidates to become chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee when the 107th Congress convenes in January.</p>
<p> "It sounds great," Crane said.</p>
<p> Although sympathetic Republicans have run Congress the past six years, little has come of previous tax overhaul efforts, despite much publicity. With hundreds of corporate lobbyists accustomed to massaging the current tax code to their advantage, resistance to such fundamental change is strong.</p>
<p> "The current system has one distinct advantage," Thomas said. "It is in place, and the difficulty of changing it cannot be minimized."</p>
<p> Neither Republican George W. Bush nor Democrat Al Gore focused much on overhauling the tax system during the presidential campaign, although both advocated tax cuts. Bush proposed repealing some tax laws such as the estate tax.</p>
<p> With the Senate headed for a 50-50 partisan split next year, such major change would seem a tall order indeed.</p>
<p> "I think this is a huge opportunity for debate," said Rep. John Linder, R-Ga.</p>
<p> On the Net:</p>
<p> Americans for Fair Taxation: http://www.fairtax.org</p>
<p> IRS: http://www.irs.gov</p>
<p> Ways and Means Committee: http://waysandmeans.house.gov
</p>

<p>Alabama student scores on the Stanford Achievement Test matched or exceeded the national average in every grade tested for the first time, but six poorly performing public schools are headed for state intervention.</p>
<p> About 463,000 students in grades 3-11 took the Stanford 9, with the scores released Thursday being used for the fifth straight year to measure the academic performance of their schools and school systems.</p>
<p> State school superintendent Ed Richardson described the scores as "incredible," with Alabama schools continuing to be funded far below the national average. A U.S. Census Bureau report found Alabama ranked near the bottom nationally by spending $4,577 for each pupil in 1997.</p>
<p> Improved SAT scores allowed 41 of 47 schools that last year moved to the brink of state intervention to avoid it.</p>
<p> The six schools headed for intervention are Louisville High School in Barbour County, Lowndes County Middle School, Cloverdale Junior High in Montgomery County, Russell County High School, Cobb Elementary School in Anniston and Jess Lanier High School in Bessemer.</p>
<p> Those campuses join the lone holdover from last year's state intervention list, Litchfield High School in Gadsden.</p>
<p> Litchfield did not show enough improvement to escape intervention, which can involve an actual takeover of a school's academic management. The state intervened in Litchfield's academic program last July after a third straight year of low SAT scores. Teachers at the school said recently that classes have since been geared almost solely toward the SAT.</p>
<p> Richardson said state intervention typically will take more than one year to make a difference.</p>
<p> Five school systems - Greene County, Lowndes County, Macon County, Sumter County and Bessemer - improved scores enough to end their slides and avoid state intervention.</p>
<p> The scores increased in grades 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 and remained the same in grades 3, 5 and 11.</p>
<p> Gov. Don Siegelman said the record performance is proof of the state's "commitment" to upgrade public education.</p>
<p> State school board vice president Ethel Hall agreed.</p>
<p> "I am very encouraged by the upward trend in these scores," Hall said.</p>
<p> The state scored at or above the national average of 50 in every subject - reading 50, math 57, language 59, science 57 and social science 55.</p>
<p> Toby Roth, a spokesman for Alabama Citizens for a Sound Economy, disagreed with suggestions that the scores are encouraging.</p>
<p> "I would argue if we have gone from one state takeover school to seven in a year's time we haven't turned the corner," Roth said. "For the parents of those children in those seven state turnover schools - I think they would argue that we haven't turned the corner either."</p>
<p> Roth said the state should allow children at those failing schools to go elsewhere.</p>
<p> State Sen. Bill Armistead, R-Columbiana, agreed, saying parents of students at the seven schools should be given the option of sending the students to other schools. Armistead unsuccessfully sponsored legislation this year that would have allowed students in failing schools to attend elsewhere.</p>
<p> "They can't afford to waste another year on their journey to become properly educated," Armistead said.</p>
<p> Last year, eight of the nine grades tested scored at or above the national average. Tenth-graders missed the average by 1 percentile point. The scores last year matched or exceeded 1998.</p>
<p> When former Gov. Fob James, the Legislature and state school board decided to use the SAT as the main measuring device for academic performance starting in 1996, the state created three levels for student achievement. They are academic clear, in which a majority of students score at least 40, academic caution, in which a majority of students score below 40, and academic alert, where a majority of students score below 23.</p>
<p> If an underperforming system or school fails to meet the caution improvement standard for successive years, it slides to Alert 2 and becomes subject to state takeover the following year.
</p>

<p>Increased spending, not tax reductions, have helped put the pinch on the state budget, House Minority Leader Richard Morgan told a conservative group lobbying the Legislature on Tuesday.</p>
<p> "Some people would like to blame the tax cuts while our side was on the watch," Morgan told about 400 people attending a rally sponsored by Citizens for a Sound Economy. "I would be happy for them to try to make that argument.</p>
<p> "It is the increase in spending that has put our state in the hole," said Morgan, R-Moore, who signed a pledge circulated by the group calling for no tax increases through 2002.</p>
<p> Chuck Fuller, the state director for CSE, said the group would lobby for the "people's agenda," which includes no tax increases, affordable health care, cable television competition, annexation rights and barring frivolous lawsuits against teachers.</p>
<p> "The people's agenda is a commonsense agenda," said Senate Minority Leader Patrick Ballantine, R-New Hanover. "It makes perfect sense to have government that is less intrusive, but works. None of us are anarchists; we want government to work, but work more efficiently with the resources it has."</p>
<p> Although few Democrats wandered through the CSE tent for a free lunch, former U.S. Sen. Lauch Faircloth said the group is nonpartisan.</p>
<p> "We do not care what party you are," he told the crowd. "What we're after is independent-thinking conservatives who believe as we do."</p>
<p> Faircloth also railed against lawsuits and threats to property rights.</p>
<p> "In every area today, we are being lawsuited to death," Faircloth said. "They 've just finished the tobacco companies; now they're going after HMOs. If we don 't curb the trial lawyers with some kind of tort reform, we are going to have many problems."</p>
<p> Government also is intruding on property rights, he said.</p>
<p> "The worst offender is EPA (the Environmental Protection Agency)," he said. "They have no conscience. If they can find a three-toed pig gnat, they'll take half the country to protect him."
</p>