The butcher and the baker remain unscathed, but the lawyer, the plumber and the casket-maker would all be taxed under the state budget proposal unveiled Tuesday by Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell. Mr. Rendell’s final budget address was one of his most ambitious, proposing sweeping changes to the state’s tax code — reducing the sales tax rate but applying it to more products and services — and trying yet again to collect more taxes from tobacco purveyors and natural gas drillers. He also pitched a reduction in the 9.99 percent Corporate Net Income Tax, which would be tied to accounting changes that would close various corporate tax loopholes.

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