Governor Carcieri faces ethics issue

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - A local political activist has filed an ethics complaint against Governor Don Carcieri over state tax expenditures.

Brian Hull, a writer for the Rhode Island's Future blog, filed the complaint Friday against the Governor over tax breaks outlined in this year's report after a detailed analysis.

Hull writes in his complaint that The Poverty Institute examined the 2008 Tax Expenditures Report. The Institute is now challenging many of the tax breaks, saying 88 out of 118 are not found in any other New England state and that the tax expenditures result in about 1.3 billion dollars in lost revenue to the state.

Hull is calling for new analysis of the way the state spends taxpayer dollars on the business community and whether or not that spending is justified.