Huntsman Chief of Staff Jason Chaffetz criticized what he referred to as the "conservative resistance to the tax cut for corporate income."

"You would think a good conservative would want to cut taxes," Chaffetz complained. It marked the first time the new governor or his staff has publicly goaded legislators.

Huntsman has been low-key so far during his debut session of the Legislature. The former U.S. diplomat has done most of his negotiating in private, emerging every so often to praise lawmakers for their willingness to collaborate. His tactics could be changing to a more head-on style now that the session's March 2 midnight deadline is looming and the corporate tax repeal - a cornerstone of his much-touted "economic revitalization" campaign - is in jeopardy.

Huntsman promised to "expend political capital" to gain approval for what he considers a vital tool to lure new businesses to Utah, resorting to one-on-one, arm-twisting meetings with opposing representatives if necessary.

A second attempt to repeal the tax, which funnels about $200 million each year into public schools, garnered Senate approval Wednesday on a 23-5 vote.

The House gutted an almost identical bill more than two weeks ago out of concern that public education would suffer. But the sponsor of that attempt, Rep. Wayne Harper, R-West Jordan, believes the House will side with Huntsman the second time around. Harper says some representatives who initially had concerns now say they are willing to change their votes after grasping that the tax cut doesn't kick in until the start of January 2008 and then will take five years to phase out.

The drawn-out process will allow the Legislature to stop the repeal if Huntsman's office fails to make up the shortfall in school funding by attracting new businesses or reforming other taxes.

"This is a bit of a leap of faith, if you will," said Sen. Curtis Bramble, R-Provo. "But this puts the burden on the executive branch to perform."

House Speaker Greg Curtis has agreed to sponsor the second attempt himself, showing the muscle legislative leaders are willing to put behind Huntsman's plan.

The proposal still concerns some lawmakers, including Rep. Jim Dunnigan, R-Taylorsville, who led the charge to initially stop the repeal in the House.

"I know it sounds good but I really doubt [the shortfall] would be made up," he said.

Two Democratic senators made a plea to discuss the corporate tax repeal as part of a wide-ranging tax reform task force, expected to start meeting in the weeks following the legislative session.

"I personally believe our Utah tax system is broken," said Sen. Ed Mayne, D-West Valley City. "The rich don't pay, the poor don't pay, but the middle income, the families - they do."

Bramble promised more tax cuts to come.

"Stay tuned for those middle-income tax cuts," he told Mayne. "We are working on them through the task force."

Both the House and Senate support an immediate change to the corporate income tax formula that will save companies an estimated $7 million annually.

The change would allow corporations to pick between two options on how to calculate their tax burden. The current standard is to weigh a company's sales, payroll and physical property equally. The new alternative would allow companies to double the effect of sales, benefiting firms that export most of their goods.

mcanham@sltrib.com