Taxes were the topic at Thursday's meeting of state budget negotiators. Republicans led by Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch offered a package of tax cuts for consideration by Democrats, as the Budget Conference Committee held the eighth of what have so far been mostly fruitless meetings. Of the Assembly budget process, Huebsch said "it was not enough to simply hold the line," on taxes. "What we recognized is that we wer going to have to reduce taxes." Senate Majority Leader Judy Robson reiterated a familiar Democratic position: that Wisconsin's tax burden has shifted over the years, from corporations and onto homeowners in the form of escalating property taxes, while Huebsch and the GOP continue to maintain the state's overall tax burden is simply more than people can afford.