Perdue Seeks Tax Increase

Special Report - January 19, 2012
Governor Beverly Perdue announced earlier this week that she intends to propose a budget for next year that will include a sales tax increase to help restore education funding cuts that were made to help balance the 2011-2012 budget. In a press release on January 17, Perdue stated that she will present a budget to the General Assembly in the spring that will include a proposal to “temporarily restore three-quarters of the one-cent sales tax as a vital step to funding our schools.” Her proposed sales tax increase would restore a temporary sales tax increase established in 2009 that ended last summer. The Republican-led General Assembly rejected the Governor’s proposal to set the state’s sales tax at 7.5 percent in the budget passed in summer 2011.

According to WRAL News, the proposed increase would result in a 7.5 percent sales tax in most counties in North Carolina, up from the current 6.75 percent. WRAL figures that increase “would be about $15 per month [for an average family, and] would generate an estimated $750 to $800 million in revenue over the year that the hike would be in place.”

Gov. Perdue attempted to justify the tax increase in her press release. “We must stop these deep and unnecessary cuts that are going on in North Carolina’s schools….,” she said. “Investing in education is central to our ability to attract new jobs and businesses to our state. We owe it to our children and our state to stop these cuts and make education a priority again—a fraction of a penny for progress.”

Related resources:
Legislature Musters Historic Veto Override - June 16, 2011
Governor Vetoes State Budget - June 13, 2011
House Passes State Budget - May 6, 2011
House Takes Up Budget - April 29, 2011
Legislative Highlights - April 21, 2011

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