We could finally have a state budget by the end of the week. The House and Senate gave preliminary approval to the $19 billion spending plan yesterday with a final vote scheduled today.
Gov. Bev Perdue said a one-penny sales tax increase was better than higher income taxes for working families. She said only about 13 percent of households will face a new, added surtax on their taxable income.
The governor said yesterday she will sign the bill, but reluctantly.
Gov Purdue's NC Budget
This budget is still loaded with pork from pet projects of Gov Perdue. And adding a tax on tax provision is an insult to working people. She has not been willing to accept any reasonable cuts in spending that would have made the tax increase unnecessary at a time when the state and country are going through very difficult economic times.
She said
only 13% of households would face a tax increase.
How did she arrive at that number? 13% of total households? That does not make sense.
I believe if you use Food Stamps or whatever the entitlement is now called, those purchases are either exempt from taxes or have a very low tax applied.
Maybe a more relevant percentage would be to determine the percentage on working households.