PROVIDENCE -- Gov. Don Carcieri personally asked lawmakers Thursday to cut Rhode Island's personal income, business and estate taxes to boost the economy.
The governor let it slip that the state's unemployment rate has climbed to 11 percent. The state Department of Labor and Training will release its jobless report on Friday.
The Republican governor made a rare appearance before the House Finance Committee seeking support for his tax plan.
"We've become an uncompetitive, high-cost state, struggling right now to create jobs for our citizens," Carcieri said.
The governor's proposal would reduce personal income taxes for about three-quarters of Rhode Islanders, eliminate the corporate income tax and reduce the number of people who must pay state taxes when inheriting property.
Carcieri, a former business executive, said lowering tax rates will attract new firms and investors to Rhode Island.
"If we grow jobs, we will grow population, we will grow the economy, we will grow the pot," Carcieri said.
Opponents disagree with Carcieri's approach.
"We're looking at the wrong tax. The reality for Rhode Island is for a couple of decades now we've had a significant over-reliance on the property tax. That hurts not only our business people, particularly our smaller business people, but it also hurts our middle-income and moderate-income families," said Karen Malcolm of Ocean State Action.
Democrats who dominate the General Assembly have said they are worried about massive budget deficits that could grow larger if the tax cuts pass.
NBC 10 News contributed to this report.
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