All told, lawmakers had more than $600 million extra dollars to deal with. They did allow Utah corporations to figure their income taxes in two different ways, in effect giving businesses an estimated $8 million tax cut.

They also considered, but rejected, a request by Huntsman to phase out the state's corporate income tax. But 2005 is not a legislative election year, and lawmakers didn't talk at all about any general tax cuts this year to workaday citizens, even with all that extra money.

The new surplus estimates come in a monthly Tax Commission report. It shows a surplus of $111.67 million in major state taxes, including the income and sales taxes.

The transportation fund also has an estimated surplus of $9.06 million, impressive considering the high cost of gasoline.

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