April revenues show 20 percent drop, and a business group wishes for an override of a coming Perdue veto

Updated below at 5:50 p.m.:

Anyone with an eye for conflict can’t help putting these two late-breaking bits of news side-by-side.

First, a troubling update from Gov. Sonny Perdue, who this morning said he had decided to veto a capital gains tax cut passed by the Legislature as something the state can’t afford:

Governor Sonny Perdue announced today that net revenue collections for the month of April 2009 (FY09) totaled $1,399,047,000 compared to $1,761,180,000 for April 2008 (FY08), a decrease of $362,133,000 or 20.6 percent.

The percentage decrease year-to-date for FY09 compared to FY08 is 9.5 percent.

Only a few minutes earlier, a press release from the National Federation of Independent Business had hit the in-box, in which state director David Raynor pressed for a January revolt by the Legislature on the capital gaines issue:

“If Governor Perdue vetoes it, I hope legislators will consider overturning his veto. The JOBS Act could do a lot of good for Georgia. Small business is the backbone of the state’s economy, and has traditionally played a vital role in turning a struggling economy around.

Raynor was chief of staff for Tommie Williams (R-Lyons) when he was Senate majority leader.

Updated: Don’t look for override talk to go very far, however. This is from Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock), the new Senate majority leader and a supporter of the capital gains measure:

“There has been no discussion of overriding any veto. It is always my preference to work with the Governor not against him. I have discussed the issue of HB 481 with Governor Perdue and while we may have some disagreements on tax policy we have far more in common. I am confident we can produce legislation next session that will be signed into law.”

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