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1:11 a.m. • 2-11-12

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N.C. House agrees to tax package as part of budget


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State Budget graphic
State Budget graphic

The full state House agreed Thursday in a party-line vote to a portion of its proposed North Carolina state budget that would raise taxes by nearly $800 million.

The House voted 64-52 in favor of higher sales and income taxes, as well as increases on liquor and movies.



Democratic speakers said new revenues are needed to restore education and human services programs slated to be slashed otherwise. Rep. Phil Haire of Jackson County said the fiscal conditions require the higher taxes to "stop the bleeding."

Rep. Nelson Dollar, R-Wake, said it should be called "the blue-collar tax increase" because it would hurt working people the hardest.

The vote comes as the House tries to pass its budget version by early Saturday.

Faced with an unprecedented 11 percent decline in total tax collections compared to last year, the House had to dig $1.5 billion deeper than either the Senate or Gov. Bev Perdue recommended in their budget proposals less than three months ago.

The budget plan would raise $784 million in additional taxes, about $86 million in fees and spend $1.3 billion in federal stimulus money to close a budget shortfall.

Parliamentary rules require lawmakers to agree to the tax changes separately - including higher sales and income tax rates and levies on liquor and digital downloads - before the current budget can move forward.

That means the House couldn't approve a combined spending and tax plan until after the clock strikes midnight late Friday, at the earliest.

House and Senate leaders are aiming to present a final budget to Perdue before the new fiscal year begins July 1.

Even with the $784 million in proposed tax increases, funding for several thousand state positions still would be eliminated.

Calling it the House version of the budget a "modest revenue package," UNC System President Erskine Bowles said in a statement late Thursday that it would lessen deep cuts to education and other critical state services.

For example, it would restore about $75 million to the university system and save 600 jobs and allow for more classes.

Bowles said he still concerned about the remaining $263 million in cuts and their impact on the quality of education at the university level.

Other areas in the proposed budget that would be restored include 2,590 teaching jobs for kindergarten through third grade as well as money cut from public health and mental health programs and about $50 million in cuts to the Department of Correction.

RELATED TOPICS: Jackson County, Beverly Perdue

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139 Comments


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The Bush presidency was FAR from what fiscal conservatives believe should have been done. Yes, he spent WAY too much money on things that he shouldn't have. But, he can't spend a dime without congressional approval, which included a time of Democratic control in congress. However, when the war is brought into a discussion like this, I have to say, we didn't ask to be attacked on 9/11. This may open a "whole nother" can of worms, but a big chunk of Bush's spending is a result of being attacked, on our own soil, by people that hate us and want to destroy us. Other than that, I can't think of much else Bush did that I agree with, conservatively, unfortunately.

MakoII wrote: "For those of you who want cold hard numbers of the budget blame.....".

That is a fair assessment. The only Caveat is that a 2009 projecting done in 2001 has a bunch of assumptions on the economy which is speculative at best. That said, one of the biggest failures (in my opinion) of the Bush presidency AND the congress that accompanied that presidency was that they made good on tax cut promises, but did NOT reduce spending.

Mako, I actually think we are agreeing more than disagreeing on this.

I'm not saying that every area should have the same amount of cuts, but a responsible budget has to be set for each area of spending (which requires leadership in our government as you state). Once those budgets are defined, the department heads need to be responsible enough to figure out what cuts make the most sense to meet their budget. If they can't do that, then they don't belong in that job.

The examples you are giving are similar to what you stated each department does. You gave examples that you know everyone would say "You can't cut that". But there are still options to cut those budgets. For example, how about temporarily making more substantial cuts in school administrator's salaries? Re: food inspections. I don't a lot about that dept, but I am sure that 5-10% reduction can be made without risking the safety of our children.

Some of this reminds me of of my Grandfather's favorite saying about the Christmas Goose!

My rep has voted with the Majority something like 97% of the time. I doubt he even read my letter!

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