I have a list of taxes that legislators probably are examining to determine which ones are best suited to help them get out of their $8 billion budget hole, assuming voters approve of them, of course.

It's on paper, so I have to retype it, and I'm not going to type all of them into this blog post. But I'll try to give you a flavor.

UPDATE: Here is a more recent list, November 2008.

"This is a list of options for raising revenues that have been commonly requested. The Department (of Revenue) does not advocate these options; we consider them to be administrable."

I'm using numbers from the July 2008, which may overstate amounts since we really went into the tank afterward. The chart shows how much money would be raised from each of the taxes in the 2009-11 biennium, as well as for each single fiscal year in the biennium. It also assumes the effective date for any of the taxes would be July 1, 2009, the first day of the 2009-11 biennium.

Mike Gowrylow of the Department of Revenue says his agency does this list every quarter, so it wasn't ordered up special by legislative leaders this time. That said, it must be awfully helpful to them in the tax deliberations that they are not having.

I'll be using some elements of this for a story I'm writing about the budget deficit, a story that probably will run in a week or so.

Anyway, here ya go! (All figures are for 2-year period.) Does anyone feel as if they are in the cross-hairs of a tax increase?

NEW TAXES
Soft drinks: 5 cents per 12 oz. can at wholesale: $277 million.
Bottled water: 1 cent per ounce at wholesale: $366 million.

REAL ESTATE EXCISE TAX
Raise rate to 1.6 percent from 1.28 percent: $381.4 million.

CIGARETTE TAX
Raise by 25 cents per pack (net gain): $56.4 million

OIL SPILL TAX
Boost oil spill tax to 5 percent value of barrell: $1.278 billion

ESTATE TAX
Double estate tax rates: $237.5 million.

RETAIL SALES AND USE TAX
--Raise state sales tax from 6.5 to 6.6 percent: $225 million.
--Raise state sales tax to 7 percent: $1.12 billion.
--Raise state sales tax to 7.5 percent: $2.23 billion.

[More:]

--Repeal the sales tax exemption for all newspapers: $30.7 million.
--Repeal the sales tax exemption for gasoline: $1.537 billion.
--Repeal the sales tax break for manufacturing: $416 million.

--Repeal sales tax exemption for vehicle trade-ins: $309 million
--Collect sales tax on over the counter drugs: $$38.6 million.
--Extend sales tax to candy and gum: $58.8 million.
--Repeal sales tax exemption for custom software: $252 million.

EXTEND SALES TAX TO CONSUMER SERVICES:
--to veterinarians: $39.2 million.
--to cable television: $61.2 million.
--to beauty salons: $51.9 million.
--to barber shops: $3 million.
--to funeral services: $8.4 million
--to motion picture theaters and drive-ins: $22.8 million.
--to professional sports clubs: $34.6 million.
--to membershop sports clubs: $3.6 million.

EXTEND SALES TAX TO BUSINESS SERVICES
--to advertising: $26 million.
--to janitorial services: $12.4 million.
--to consultants: $47.3 million.
--to lawyers and legal services: $374.6 million.
--to architects and engineers: $158.3 million.
--to accountants and auditors: $157.9 million.
--to detective and security services: $123.9 million.
--to research and development: $66.2 million.
--to computer and data processing: $124.1 million.
--to management services: $247.1 million.

EXTEND SALES TAX TO MEDICAL SERVICES
--to doctors: $453 million.
--to dentists: $221.9 million.
--to osteopaths: $1.8 million.
--to other health practitioners: $113.5 million.
--to nursing homes: $78.1 million.
--to hospitals: $393.7 million.
--to medical laboratories: $32.2 million.

EXTEND SALES TAX TO FINANCIAL SERVICES
--to banking: $15.8 million.
--to credit agencies: $144.2 million.
--to security brokers: $$146 million.
--to insurance companies: $9.3 million.
--to insurance agents: $190.4 million.
--to holding companies: $14.3 million.

BUSINESS AND OCCUPATION TAX (Rate increases)
10 percent surtax on all: $630.6 million.
25 percent surtax on all: $1.577 billion.

repeal first mortgage deduction: $161 million.
repeal exemption for state-chartered credit unions: $50.2 million.
eliminate deduction for private school tuition: $12.7 million.