A proposal to cut North Dakota's income tax rates has enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot and should be submitted to Secretary of State Al Jaeger in less than two weeks, the campaign's chairman says.

The petition needs signatures from at least 12,844 eligible North Dakota voters. Duane Sand, who is the leader of the initiative campaign, said the petition has more than 13,800 names.

"We're very comfortable with our margin," Sand said. "We had dozens and dozens of people help, and I'm really grateful to all of them."

The initiative's drafters say it would reduce North Dakota's individual income tax rates by 50 percent, and its corporate tax rates by 15 percent. Skeptics of the measure say it was poorly drafted, and that its proposed tax changes are not uniform.

Sand, who is the Republican candidate against U.S. Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., this fall, said he had hoped to turn in the petitions before he left Tuesday for Washington, D.C. Sand is spending the next three weeks on Naval Reserve duty in Diego Garcia, a Navy base in the Indian Ocean.

Other advocates of the income tax plan intend to turn in the petition on its deadline day of July 21. Initiative supporters normally have one year from the time they get their first petition signatures to collect the minimum number that is needed.

Former Gov. Ed Schafer, who is now the U.S. agriculture secretary, was the petition's first signer on July 19, 2007. This year, July 19 falls on a Saturday, which means the submission deadline is pushed to Monday, July 21.

North Dakota budget analysts say the state treasury should have a surplus of more than $700 million by June 2009. Sand says the proposed income tax cut would return some of the money to North Dakota taxpayers, and give the Legislature less ability to approve steep increases in state spending.

"The people of any state deserve a government that lowers the tax burden any time they have an opportunity," Sand said. "We saw more spending on the horizon … We've seen a huge growth in state government in the last four years. We'd like to see that growth slow down, and tax relief given to the people."

Supporters of seven other initiatives, on subjects ranging from child custody to fenced hunting and workers' compensation, must submit their petitions by midnight Aug. 5 to have a chance at qualifying for the November ballot.