Assemblyman Robin Schimminger (D-Erie) has urged Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to ensure that "an appropriate level of avails" is set aside for tax relief in conferencecommittee discussions on the state budget. "A fair but favorable tax code is the most key component to creating the jobcreation climate we mutually desire for our state," Schimminger said in a letter to Silver Wednesday.

Schimminger who cochairs the Budget Conference Committee's Subcommittee on Economic Development and Taxes.

He added: "I am hopeful that our subcommittee can reach agreement on actions which can be taken this year to continue the progress we have made." Meanwhile, budget talks broke down Wednesday. Saying the budget process is dysfunctional, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said the Senate is adjourned until July 12 or 13. He said he expects the 1999 budget to be the latest ever enacted in New York.

The Business Council has urged that the next round of tax cuts include:

• Reduction in bank and insurance tax rates to the new level of the general corporate tax rate, 7.5 percent.
• Further reduction of the gross receipts tax and other taxes on energy and telecommunications customers.
• Elimination of the petroleum business tax, and reduction of the highway use tax.
• Further reduction of the alternative minimum tax, which primarily affects manufacturers and the securities industry.

Most states are considering tax cuts this year in response to strong economic and revenue growth, a new report from the Center for the Study of the States at the Rockefeller Institute of Government said. "Tax cut proposals have been widespread," the center said in its June State Fiscal Brief. "Thirteen states have already enacted significant tax cuts, and many more will enact cuts by the time this year's legislative session ends." Significant cuts already enacted or proposed include business tax cuts in Pennsylvania, Texas, Florida and Michigan, and personalincome tax reductions in Massachusetts, Michigan, Colorado and Wisconsin.

The report, which was cited last week in The Wall Street Journal, says strong revenues are also letting states increase spending, but "increases will generally be incremental."