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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Although Gov. Jon Huntsman canceled a special session on his income tax plan after it was discovered it would reduce revenue more than expected, he still plans to pursue his flatter-tax idea.
Meanwhile, legislators caught by surprise this week, are considering working up their own plan.
And a legislator who sponsored the governor's plan has lashed out at a state Tax Commission economist for the miscalculation.
Huntsman's plan calls for reducing the maximum tax rate from 7 percent to about 5 percent and eliminating most deductions.
As lawmakers and the governor's staff tinkered with various credits during the 2006 session, staffers lost track of a tax credit for income tax paid in other states, said state Tax Commission Chairwoman Pam Hendrickson.
The result was the decrease in revenue under the plan, originally pegged at $70 million, was recalculated at $105 million.
Huntsman maintains the basic plan is sound.
"Most people agree, in the Legislature as well, that this is good tax policy and this is what the state needs longer-term," he said Thursday.
The plan was backed by Senate Republicans during the 2006 session, but it stalled in the House, with representatives saying they did not know enough about it.
Huntsman had been lobbying lawmakers ever since and had intended to force another vote at a special session next month, but he announced Wednesday that the session would not be held because of the recalculation.
Legislative leaders were aware of the calculation problem but were caught off-guard by the governor's decision to call off the special session.
Some legislators who supported the plan are feeling they were left in the lurch and some are thinking about coming up with their own plan.
That may be discussed at party caucuses next Wednesday.
"Without the governor being the motivating factor, it's a big question -- where do we go from here?" said Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem.
Meanwhile, Rep. John Dougall, R-Highland, who was House sponsor of the governor's proposal, has blamed Tax Commission senior economist Tom Williams for the miscalculation.
"I can't rely on any numbers he (Williams) generates. If we are going to move ahead on this proposal, we have to have someone who can do the numbers accurately," Dougall said. "I can't trust anything he generates."
Dougall also has claimed that Williams has liberal political leanings and has given opinions in opposition to the Huntsman plan.
The allegation comes on the heels of the commission's chief economist, Doug Macdonald, retiring March 31st after he and the two other tax economists were sent letters from the commission threatening disciplinary action if they expressed "their own positions, opinions and views" when representing the commission.
Macdonald maintains the warnings came because the economists dared question aspects of Huntsman's plan in public and because of the leak of documents indicating thousands of retirees would take a hit under the tax plan.
Williams could not be reached immediately for comment, but Hendrickson said, "We appreciate the legislator's concerns, but we don't anticipate making any administrative changes. We believe this was an unintended error and the Tax Commission takes responsibility for the mistake."
Hendrickson said the mistake was discovered about two weeks ago when the staff was breaking out the various tax credit costs at the request of legislators.
"It was in the process of doing that we got an 'Oh-my-gosh!' look," she said. "One thing we've done this week is find out how we missed it. We're going to look at ways to cross-check each other."
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
