Advocates of ND income tax cut turn in petitions

BISMARCK, N.D.—Advocates of a North Dakota income tax cut have turned in petitions to put the idea on the ballot, saying they have more than enough names to guarantee a statewide vote in November.

Secretary of State Al Jaeger now has about a month to review the petitions and send postcards to a selected number of people to verify that they signed it. Jaeger on Monday also notified the Legislative Council, which may hold a hearing on the effects of the proposal.

Dustin Gawrylow, a spokesman for the measure's sponsoring committee, said the effort gathered 15,667 signatures on almost 600 petitions. Signatures from at least 12,844 North Dakota voters are needed for an initiated law to go on the ballot.

The measure would reduce North Dakota's individual income tax rates by 50 percent, and its corporate tax rates by 15 percent. It is being pushed by the North Dakota chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a Washington, D.C.-based group that advocates less government taxation and regulation.

North Dakota budget analysts estimate the state's budget surplus will exceed $700 million by June 2009, and Gawrylow said the state's financial health justified the income tax cut.

"We believe that with the surplus projections being what they are, it's time for permanent tax relief for all North Dakotans," he said Monday.

Seven more initiative petitions are still circulating, Jaeger said. They must be turned in by Aug. 5 to have a chance at a November vote.

Once an initiated measure begins circulating, its supporters have one year to gather the needed number of petition signatures. The income tax measure's deadline fell Monday.

Former Gov. Ed Schafer, who is now the U.S. agriculture secretary, was the petition's first signer on July 19, 2007. The petition submission deadline was moved forward to Monday because July 19, 2008, fell on Saturday.