1.   And as tax cutting has become a national priority, states have felt pressure to reduce tax rates to remain competitive with their neighbors.

2.   Any tax can become too big a burden.

3.   As a result of the confusion, the market for the notes is certain to contract as the tax becomes better known, analysts said.

4.   He did not try to argue that taxes would become a hot-button campaign issue, or that they would sway voters next year.

5.   His lawyer, Judith Sturtz Karp, said the payroll taxes became a problem because a bookkeeper whom she would not identify had failed to withhold the taxes.

6.   Internet taxes have become a flash point in the Republican contest, with McCain challenging Bush to join him in endorsing a permanent ban on Internet taxes.

7.   It is a mark of how popular the flat tax has become that think tanks are even holding debates on competing plans.

8.   Lawmakers said the phone tax has become increasingly difficult to apply fairly to communications devices other than telephones.

9.   Since the impeachment of President Clinton, taxes have become a national Republican focus.

10.   Taxes had become too high, and there was a growing sense that a major urban thoroughfare was not where millionaires wanted to spend their money.