State may excise computer work from sales tax. (Harrisburg, PA)

Is this the last business tax cut from Harrisburg this year?

HARRISBURG - As the state battles to balance its 1997 budget, few of the business tax breaks proposed by Gov. Tom Ridge - if any - will survive.

The most likely survivor, legislative sources and observers agree, is a repeal of the sales tax imposed on computer services as part of a $3 billion tax hike in 1991.

In February, the governor proposed three tax reductions for businesses, totaling $60 million annually: a job creation tax credit, a reduction in the capital stock and franchise tax and exemption of computer services from the state sales tax.

All are in jeopardy as Mr. Ridge and the legislature recently slashed an estimated $210 million from medical assistance coverage and must cut even more to balance the budget. The spending plan must be enacted by July 1. …