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RALEIGH Gov. Bev Perdue on Wednesday began a campaign for as much as $1.5 billion in tax increases to stave off what she said would be crippling budget cuts for North Carolina's public schools.
At a rally in the Capitol, Perdue, a Democrat, urged the legislature to raise taxes higher than the $780 million proposed in the House budget. Although she declined to say publicly what she would support, the governor privately told lawmakers that between $1 billion and $1.5 billion in new revenues should be generated – as much as twice the amount of the House plan.
“In North Carolina we have to act boldly to protect our classrooms,” Perdue said in the first of a series of six rallies she plans. “I don't believe we can cripple education in this state.”
Perdue said revenue should be raised so that the state would not have to lay off teachers or enlarge class sizes.
The governor stopped short of saying what additional taxes she would propose. Aides noted that she had previously called for increases in taxes of cigarettes, beer, wine and alcohol.
The governor held meetings this week with leaders of the Democratic-controlled legislature, including an unusual trip to the Legislative Office Building on Wednesday morning.
But initial evidence suggested that such a large tax hike would be a tough sell, even among her political allies.
“We all gasped,” said Sen. Linda Garrou, a Winston-Salem Democrat and appropriations co-chair. “The more I look at the numbers,” Garrou said, “the harder this job is going to be.”
Republicans called the proposal “job destroying” and “irresponsible.”
“As North Carolina faces the most dire economic recession in decades, including double digit unemployment rates, Governor Perdue refuses to abandon the tax-and-spend policies that have brought us to this point,” said state Senate Republican leader Phil Berger of Eden.
Garrou said Perdue's proposal will be considered, but she added, “we have to look hard at cuts and increasing class size.”
Perdue said the state faces a $4.7 billion shortfall out of a $21 billion budget, one of the worst deficits in the nation.
