Projected $1.3 billion shortfall complicates legislators' budget work

From the Winston-Salem Journal:

House Speaker Jim Black said that House leaders will now start work on the House's version of the 2005-07 state budget. Black said his goal is for the House to pass a budget by June 16.

Facing a projected shortfall of $1.3 billion for 2005-06, some Democrats seem content to continue a "temporary" half-cent sales tax that was first adopted in 2001 for another two years, as long as it remains coupled with a tax bracket that requires individuals who make more than $120,000 a year to pay higher taxes.