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Perdue’s road map on the budget

Update: Gov. Perdue spoke with reporters this afternoon about her budget and tax proposal. It was pointed out that two of her proposal are for "temporary" taxes. Residents of North Carolina still pay a part of a "temporary" sales tax that was enacted earlier this decade and made permanent under Gov. Mike Easley.

She was asked why anyone should take the notion of a tax being "temporary" at face value.

"Because I'm the governor," Perdue said.

Click here to listen to her whole presser with us scruffy media types.

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Update: Click here for my newspaper story on Perdue's budget proposal.

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Gov. Bev Perdue sent legislators a letter today. Click here for the whole MS Word document, which includes a table of the places Perdue says legislators can get revenue.

From the letter:

Today I would like to present you with a pathway to achieving that goal, which includes elements from each of the existing proposals and is based on four key principles:

Protection of education and core public safety and health care services
Fairness to working families
Modernization of the tax code with permanent rate reduction
Targeted tax relief

Combined with $3.8 billion in cuts and $2.4 billion in federal recovery funds, the chart attached provides a pathway to balance our state budget with more spending cuts than revenue increases while protecting the most vital services, particularly our public schools.

[snip]

As I pointed out last week, I do not intend to micromanage the General Assembly’s process and do not care about who gets credit for each concept. I am open to reasonable adjustments to the pathway detailed below, but we must ensure enough revenue to protect public schools.

The Continuing Resolution has only eight days remaining. I urge all of you to work together toward a rapid resolution. Operating without a budget in the new fiscal year, as North Carolina already has been doing for a week, costs the state approximately $5 million each day in lost revenue and savings. It also leaves local governments, school districts, service providers and families across North Carolina in limbo regarding what resources and services will be available to them.

Among the revenue options Perdue offered up:

A temporary 1-cent sales tax.
An emergency sur-charge on high income owners.
Raise beer, wine and cigarette taxes.

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Tags: budget, Bev Perdue, audio, taxes

Posted by Mark Binker on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 2:02 pm

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Doug Johnson

July 8, 2009 - 4:34 am EDT

Since the budget shortfall is only 1.1 billion in real life, not the 4-5 billion, we have been told.
Seems Perdue, is making way for some more Parton Theaters.
Did any of you scuffy reporters manage to ask , how she make out on this project?
The man on talk radio had it right you vote for a idiot and you get idiotic results!
It not a 1 cent sales tax, its 1 PER CENT sales tax.

Mark Binker

July 8, 2009 - 10:46 am EDT

I can't find the reference to a "1 per cent" sales tax either in the online story or in this post. Could you point it out please?

Mark Binker

July 8, 2009 - 10:42 am EDT

Just to caution anyone reading Doug's comment:

$4.5 billion is a number used by Democratic leaders in the House and Senate. It reflects the gap between what the continuation budget based on the budget passed last year.

$1.1 billion reflects the math put forward by Republicans. They make the case that next year's budget should be based on what was spent this year. They argue actual spending was something close to $17.5 billion because of all the money that Perdue reclaimed for the budget. I think this is actually off because much of Perdue's "savings" were actually confiscating trust funds that are one-time pots of money, not actual spending cuts.

Republicans also argue that federal stimulus funds aren't being properly accounted for. Although its reflected in the budget as spending, it's not accounted for in the spending side of the budget. This is fairly typical for the handling of federal funds. However, I think you can make valid arguments as to whether you should do it or not.

The reason we tend to use the 4.5 number is it's what the people actually writing the budget use and that's the gap they're trying to fill.

connieohyeah

July 8, 2009 - 11:23 am EDT

Is not important to point out that Bev actually said

"Every day, every month that goes by" costs 5 million.

Why did the reporter decide to drop "every month" from her statement? Which is the truth? 5 million a day is certainly different than 5 million a month. Why did she even say month?

Mark Binker

July 8, 2009 - 11:26 am EDT

The reference to that statement in the story was a paraphrase, not a quote.

I paraphrased to reflect what Perdue meant, as reflected in both a written statement and figures provided by her staff.

Yes, it was gaff and means something entirely different. However, in this case, it seems more useful to provide her meaning than a quote that, at best, would be confusing.