Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said Wednesday he doesn't plan to pursue a general tax hike again this year because he doesn't think Republicans would support it.

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger already has said he will not support tax hikes. GOP legislators are unlikely to vote for taxes after some members suffered political consequences for approving $12 billion in temporary tax hikes in 2009.

Steinberg, D-Sacramento, appearing at the Sacramento Press Club, acknowledged the political difficulty of increasing taxes on sales or income this year to help close the state's $19.9 billion budget deficit, even as his own labor and social service constituents advocate more tax revenues.

"I don't plan to put forward a general tax increase because I don't think we'll pass it," Steinberg said. He said he wasn't interested in setting his "hair on fire when it's not going to lead to an actual, productive result."

He said Democrats instead will look at reducing corporate tax benefits, including those won by Republicans in the last two years of budget negotiations. The Senate Budget Committee took steps in that direction Tuesday by rolling back affiliate tax-credit sharing and deductions for past operating losses as part of a complex gas-tax swap proposal.

Republicans and business interests have long maintained that such changes are tax hikes and require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature. Democrats believe they can pass those measures now on a majority vote by tying them to a gas tax decrease, thereby ensuring that overall tax collections remain neutral.

Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, who will take over as Senate Republican leader later this year, said he still sees the corporate tax changes as a tax hike. He added that some members of his caucus believe Democrats are reneging on previous budget deals.

"By undoing some of this stuff, it doesn't bode well for their credibility," Dutton said.

Steinberg for weeks suggested requiring businesses and governments to withhold taxes for independent contractors, a proposal that could raise $1.4 billion in 2010-11, according to the Franchise Tax Board. Senate Democrats did not include that idea in their stopgap budget solution because Schwarzenegger said he would veto it.

The governor publicly has taken no position on the gas-swap plan and its rollback of two corporate tax benefits.

"We need to look at this and see exactly what it is," Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said.

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