The proposal has some merit, which accounts for the lack of support from Gray Easley and friends.
The substance of the changes he proposes are sweetened by corporate income tax cuts that are phased in.
Republicans do not want to be sucked into supporting anything on the promise of a tax cut, even one that is put into the statutes and dated.
They have little reason to trust that any tax cuts won't be delayed, as they were this year. They've been burned.
Also, Basnight is actually vulnerable in this issue at home. 40 percent of the voters in his district are now in Beaufort County, where the economy is chronically grim, but patience is wearing thin. The real unemployment rate there is well over 12 percent.
Combined with a variety of other Omens, time for Basnight is finally running out.