Senate would raise taxes in new budget

From the Winston-Salem Journal:

NC Senate leaders released a proposed budget yesterday that contains provisions to enact a state lottery, a ban on video poker and permanent tax increases. In 2001, legislative leaders said that a half-cent increase in the sales-tax rate that they adopted would be temporary. However, the plan that the Senate rolled out yesterday would make the tax permanent, eliminating its scheduled expiration on July 1 and raising more than $400 million a year from shoppers.