Sanford's tax plan, which would lower the state's highest income tax bracket from the current 7 percent to 4.75 percent over 10 years, is lodged in the back of the Senate's calendar.

The tax plan would go into effect only after the state deficit is paid off and state growth hits 4 percent. The last time growth was that strong was in 2000, though the 1990s passed the mark every year but one.

Senate leaders have said they would hold off on dealing with controversial issues such as tax reductions until the last week of the session. To do otherwise, they feared, would bring the rest of the session to a grinding halt.

On Thursday, a dozen members of the Senate Republican Caucus held a news conference to announce their intention to bring the issue to the Senate floor by early next week.

This, according to Sen. David Thomas, R-Greenville, would be accomplished by attaching the governor's plan to a Senate bill already in the House of Representatives. It would allow the bill to return to the Senate, circumvent the calendar and be taken up first.

A similar method was used to get primary seat belt legislation on the Senate floor. Rep. Joel Lourie, D-Columbia, attached that legislation to a hearing-impaired logo bill sponsored by Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg.

The hearing-impaired language was removed from the bill, leaving only the seat belt issue on the document.

Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, filibustered long and hard to stop the seat belt proposal. One of his chief arguments against the legislation was that it was an unrelated amendment, something the governor has taken issue with this year.

On Thursday, McConnell said he would have to wait and see which bill the governor's plan was tacked onto."If it is germane to the governor's proposal, then I won't have a problem," he said. "I plan to vote for the governor's plan."

Sanford, who attended Thursday's news conference, refused to say whether he would veto his own proposal if it were a bobtailed bill.

"I will have to decide if it's constitutional or not," Sanford said. "We'll take up that issue as it comes."

So far, 24 of 27 caucus members have signed onto the plan. Finance Committee Chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence; Verne Smith, R-Greer; and Luke Rankin, R-Conway, are the only ones not on the list. Leatherman has not been a big supporter of the governor's plan.

Senate Democrats said they were not surprised to hear the news. They will be surprised, however, if it works.

"I just don't think they have the votes," said Sen. Linda Short, D-Chester. "I think some of the Republicans signed on to the list but have no real intention of fighting for it on the floor."

Short said if the proposal does make it to the floor next week, it will lead to a filibuster. A similar method employed by McConnell tied up the Senate for the better part of two months. During that time, only three senators took part in the actual filibuster.

Should Democrats take aim at the governor's plan, they would have far more supporters to join in. Between such a filibuster and the potential budget vetoes expected next week, the Senate could be locked down for the rest of the session.

It's a risk some senators seem willing to take.

Even if it passes, tax reductions would not be immediate. But if the state takes care of its deficit and revenue growth reaches the 4 percent trigger, reductions of .225 percentage points would proceed each year that revenue grew enough.

A key portion of the plan is it would lower taxes for small businesses, something Sanford said is important to turn around a recent trend. The state has lost more than 3,600 small businesses in the past few years and more than 41,000 jobs.

Most of the senators supporting the governor's plan say it will help turn the tide.

"We have heard the call," said Sen. John Hawkins, R-Spartanburg. "And we're going to get behind you, governor."

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