Since the district received $4 million more in state aid than anticipated, there is a tax decrease in the newly proposed budget, said Mr. Black.

I don't know that we can phase in a tax decrease.

Mr. Spano responded by saying that he voted for the "single largest tax decrease in New York State history."

Economically, this is an inappropriate time for any tax decrease.

Bear in mind that when each Legislator voted for the county budget it featured a countywide tax decrease of nearly 1 percent.

"What we are asking New Yorkers now is not to accept a tax increase but simply to defer a tax decrease," he said.

During his first term (1910 to 1911), he increased teachers' salaries and retired some of the city's debt while still managing to effect a slight tax decrease.

The solution, he added, was not a tax decrease but "more competition, more oversight" in the petroleum business.

President Bush has been preventing a fast 2001 tax decrease by tying the short-term tax decrease to his long-term plan.

Congress is preventing a fast 2001 tax decrease by debating endlessly who gets what this year and beyond.