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Perdue talks taxes, hints at education budget

Gov. Bev Perdue met briefly with us scruffy media types following a bill signing ceremony today. Most of the questions she fielded were budget related.

On the House budget: “There are some things left undone that I think should be done and I’m going to talk with y’all about that tomorrow.”

According to Perdue’s staff, she will speak in Raleigh around 11 a.m. and in Greensboro during the afternoon.

On the tobacco tax: “I think you have seen what the House and Senate thought of my proposal to raise tobacco tax by a dollar,” Perdue said with a grin. Neither the House nor the Senate included a tobacco tax increase in their budgets. Perdue could have chosen to push for a tobacco tax hike - the fact that it's in her budget keeps the idea alive for budget negotiations - but she seemed to capitulate on the point for the year.

“Obviously, that is not going to go anywhere this session. I continue to believe we have to be direct and up front about the cost of health care that’s directly tied to the use of tobacco…I’ll continue to work on those health care issues. This is long term in North Carolina. Who would have ever though we’d have restaurants and bars smoke free. You have to start somewhere.”

On finishing the budget (or not) by July 1: “I know that the continuation resolution can be crafted in such a way that the cuts that must be made can be taken July 1, I’ve checked with lawyers about that. It will be a hard fought-out document because we’ve never done anything like that … But I don’t believe with the holes that we know we face during the next two years of the biennium that we can afford to lose one day of funding, revenue that we can cut in July, the beginning of 2010’s budget. I’m really hopeful, I’m really hopeful, and I intend to work as hard as I’ve ever worked, to have the House and Senate come to some kind of agreement on revenue and on pieces of the budget and get the thing out by June 30.”

Click here to listen to the three-and-a-half-minute presser.
 

Accompanying Photos

File photo (News & Record)

Photo Caption: Bev Perdue