The group sponsoring the income tax-cutting Measure 2 pressured state officials again Tuesday to use the initiative's original ballot summary saying the mistakes currently reflected in it do not echo the group's intent.

But Secretary of State Al Jaeger and Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, the two responsible for drafting and approving the summary, say the ballot must accurately reflect what that measure will do, including the mistakes.

Duane Sand told reporters on the eve of the ballot submission deadline that the nearly 16,000 people who signed the petition were aware they were supporting a measure that would cut income taxes in half and corporate income taxes by 15 percent.

"That was the intent then, that was the intent all year and that is our intent now," Sand said, adding the summary language was changed in "the bottom of the ninth inning."

Jaeger and Stenehjem approved the petition's original summary in July 2007, months before the errors were discovered. In August, the measure's summary was changed to reflect the errors that were discovered in May.

If voters approve Measure 2 this fall, those mistakes would affect 325 North Dakota taxpayers by either cutting income taxes by 45 percent instead of 50 percent for some brackets or not taxing upward of $58,000 in income for others.

Those mistakes were not the first to plague the petition that would become Measure 2, Jaeger said.

Americans for Prosperity had to resubmit their petition last summer before it was approved for circulation because language in the measure would have cut corporate income taxes by 50 percent, not 15 percent, Jaeger said.

The group resubmitted the petition with the correct corporate income tax language but with faulty language for some personal income tax brackets. Those mistakes were not discovered until May by the Bismarck-Mandan Area Chamber of Commerce.

"I take responsibility for a human typographical error," Sand said, adding the state officials who approved the petition should take some responsibility for overlooking the errors, too. "It should not be changed to something more difficult, more confusing to the voters who will see this on the ballot in November."

But if the language stays the same and the measure is passed, it would take two-thirds of the Legislature to correct mistakes, something Sand said is likely to happen.

The names of six state legislators, including Senate Majority Leader Bob Stenehjem, R-Bismarck, and Senate Minority Leader David O'Connell, D-Langford, appeared in a press release by Americans for Prosperity saying they would support correcting the faulty language next session.

None of them were present for the Tuesday press conference.

"It needs to be cleared up if it's not clear," said O'Connell, adding he does not support the measure. "We're on board with that."

Tax Commissioner Cory Fong said his office is already preparing for the possibility of Measure 2 passing this November and how to compensate for the potential errors that could make it into the tax code.

"It's going to be a challenging time for us," Fong said, especially dealing with electronic tax filing programs such as Turbo Tax that would need to be updated to deal with the mistakes.

(Reach reporter Brian Duggan at 223-8482 or brian.duggan@;bismarcktribune.com.)