Released two weeks ago, Easley's budget proposal touted an effort to eliminate income taxes for low-income wage earners and cut marginal tax rates from 6 percent to 3 percent for others.

An advocacy group said earlier this week that its analysis found that less than half of the number Easley cited would actually benefit, because they already pay no income taxes due to personal exemptions, deductions or tax credits.

The plan is designed to cover the bottom third of taxpayers and their families, or about 1.17 million people, Easley said Tuesday. "Now having said that, there are always going to be some people who file taxes ... and then who, because of (credits and deductions), may not pay taxes anyway," Easley added.

The Easley administration couldn't say how many new people would see their taxes cut under the governor's plan, which his office has said would cost $63 million annually. The North Carolina Budget & Tax Center, which questioned Easley's figures in a report Monday, estimated it would cost $357 million to provide new tax relief to 1.2 million people. -AP