By Betsy Turner
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK - Bombarded with questions and complaints about illegal immigration, Gov. Mike Huckabee told a statewide radio audience Wednesday that he would support overhauling the immigration system to allow undocumented immigrants to work legally in the United States.

Huckabee, who is term-limited and considering a run for the presidency after he leaves office in January, said immigrants who are in this country illegally are an important part of the work force and should be allowed to obtain work permits.

Overhauling the immigration system to ease the way for immigrants to come work in this country could mean less tolerance and stiffer penalties for those crossing the border illegally, the governor said.

"We create a law and system that allows people to come to this country through a legal process that is not so cumbersome so that they are discouraged from coming legally," Huckabee said during his monthly call-in show on the Arkansas Radio Network.

However, he said Congress appears incapable of addressing the issue, making the likelihood of such laws being enacted slim.

Criticized by several callers, Huckabee defended his support last year for legislation that would have made the children of undocumented immigrants eligible for state-funded college scholarships, support that one irate caller from Hot Springs called "not patriotic."

The legislation passed the House but fell just short of approval in the Senate.

The Hot Springs caller complained that the state was "offering stuff to people here illegally breaking our laws" when it could give scholarships to out-of-state citizens.

Huckabee said immigrant children who meet academic requirements and attend Arkansas high schools should be allowed to compete for merit scholarships.

If those children are given the opportunity to become better educated, then they have a greater potential for getting good jobs to pay more taxes and not be a burden on the state, the governor said.

A few callers asked the governor what his opinion was on specific taxes and tax cuts. A Little Rock man, who said he felt a flat tax should replace sales taxes, asked Huckabee why there was not more support for the change. Huckabee said he believed a flat tax would be a fair and equitable way to impose taxes.

Huckabee called a flat tax "biblical" and compared it to the Christian practice of giving away, or tithing, a portion of a person's income. He said he thought the flat tax wasn't being used because lobbyists were making money by getting tax advantages for certain groups. He also said accountants and Internal Revenue Service workers would be out of work if the change was made.

Also during the show, Huckabee renewed his call for the Legislature to enact a tax in the face of a $400 million budget surplus that is expected to balloon to more than $600 million by the end of the current fiscal year June 30, 2007.

The governor said it would be irresponsible for lawmakers to not enact some sort of tax relief during the regular session that convenes in January, and he suggested eliminating the sales tax on food.

Attorney General Mike Beebe, the Democratic candidate for governor, and Republican candidate Asa Hutchinson both have said they favor removing the sales tax from food.