The Governor Proposes; The Legislature Disposes

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Summary
This survey of legislative action on the governors’ tax proposals of 1951 is a sequel to our earlier study: The Governor Reports: A Roundup of Governors’ Messages to 1951 Legislatures. In addition to following up the action on the proposals of the governors, this survey also covers other major tax legislation of the 1951 sessions of the 39 state legislatures included in the study.

A total of 35 major tax increases have been passed by these 39 states as of this date: Fourteen were in line with specific recommendations of the governors and 21 on their own initiative (including two in states where the governors recommended increased taxes in general).

Fifteen new taxes have been passed by these state legislatures. Four of these were specifically requested by governors and three others were in states where the governors recommended increased taxes without being more specific.

These state legislatures made reductions in 11 taxes. Of these, three had been recommended by the governors and the remaining eight decreases were initiated by the legislature.

One tax was repealed by a state legislature. This abolishment was effected without a specific recommendation by the governor.