Perdue proposes taxes to break budget impasse

RALEIGH (Greensboro News & Record) — North Carolina would raise $1.6 billion in new taxes under a plan Gov. Bev Perdue offered to legislators Tuesday in an effort to break a logjam in budget negotiations.

The state began its new fiscal year on July 1, facing what Perdue and state leaders describe as a $4 billion shortfall. Legislative leaders have been unable to agree on how to bridge that gap, so the state is relying on a temporary spending plan that expires July 15.

Perdue says the state loses $5 million every day with that kind of temporary agreement and offered her proposal to prod legislators past their impasse. Members of both chambers met with Perdue Tuesday. Later, she talked publicly about her plan.

“That’s the revenue that’s out there; it’s the only pathway that I know that exists,” Perdue said.