By AP
Nashville, TN – Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen may have to dip into the state's cash reserves to find more than $120 million after state Senate Republicans gutted his revenue tax plan to balance the state budget. Part of the governor's proposal included raising $85 million by lifting a sales tax cap on big-ticket items.
Thursday evening, the Republican-majority Senate Finance Committee passed legislation that stripped out that measure, as well as other revenue sources, such as eliminating a tax exemption for the first $15 on cable bills.
Senate Democratic Leader Jim Kyle says the deletions leave the state more than $120 million in the hole, and that the state's cash reserves may have to be tapped again. He says the governor has already had to siphon $100 million from reserves because of revenue loss in the current year.