State Comptroller Nancy Wyman today urged lawmakers to support her proposal to use the state budget surplus to establish a taxpayer rebate program and address the state's long-term fiscal stability.

Testifying before the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee, Wyman said that establishing a permanent Taxpayer Relief Account would make state government more accountable to the taxpayers who built the current estimated surplus of more than $300 million.

"Our citizens have worked hard to bring this state back from recession," Wyman said. "This tax rebate plan puts money they earned back into their pockets, pays down the state's debt credit card and fills our Rainy Day Fund savings account. I believe my plan would reward taxpayers for their efforts, while building a secure financial future for our children and grandchildren."

Wyman's testimony focused on several differences between her proposal and a rebate plan submitted by the Governor. She said her plan would:

• Create a permanent form of tax relief that is tied directly to the state's fiscal performance, rather than the one-time rebate check proposed by the Governor.

• Mandate that rebates be paid only after the Rainy Day Fund - which is now about $158 million short of its targeted statutory level of $495 million - is filled. The Governor's bill would put only $55 million into the Rainy Day Fund.

• Distribute rebate checks from 90 percent of the surplus remaining after the Rainy Day Fund is filled. The amount of the rebate would be determined by the size of the surplus, while the Governor's bill would cap the total rebate fund at $125 million.

• Dedicate the remaining 10 percent of the surplus to reducing the state's $16 billion debt. The Governor's bill has no provision for addressing the debt, which now consumes nearly $1 billion of the annual state budget.

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For Immediate Release
March 12, 1998

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