Connecticut lawmakers last week passed another one-week temporary budget after determining they did not have enough support to override Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr.'s veto of a fiscal 1992 budget.
On Wednesday, Gov. Weicker vetoed the $7 billion package approved by the Legislature four days before, arguing that it was $623 million out of balance. An override vote was expected late Thursday, but legislators found they did not have enough support in the state Senate, so it was called off in favor of the temporary budget.
The governor, who signed the stopgap measure Friday, is trying to fashion a new budget -- the state's fourth formal budget proposal in as many months -- for lawmakers to consider this week. The latest delay leaves Connecticut without a budget six weeks after the start of the 1992 fiscal year. It is the only state in the nation still without a spending plan.
The key issue has been whether Connecticut will institute its first income tax or increase sales and business taxes enough to meet its needs. Gov. Weicker has insisted the state must tax earnings because the sales tax is already too high. But that strategy is unpopular among lawmakers, who want to avoid an income tax.
