Trouble Already Brewing on Governor Perdue's Budget

There was reason to believe last week that Raleigh Democrats were going to try to avoid a tax increase for the election year.  Now I am not so sure.

The budget seemed to be accepted by House Speaker Joe Hackney without qualification.  But now there are rumblings among key committee chairs that the cuts will not be acceptable.  Remain mindful that the budget represents an increase in spending over last year, so it is not by any means the type of austerity budget that is probably needed given the circumstances.  Federal stimulus dollars are propping up spending at the state level.

In any case, the reaction of certain committee chairs raises the possibility that the legislature will be forcing more tax increases, just as it did last year.  And this may be happening even during an election year.

Hold on to your wallets. 

Comments

[Ken Hill]

The lobbies for many interests are quite persuasive. They are operating at full throttle.

[Joe Guarino]

No doubt, Ken. And it also appears there may be some hard left committee chairs, who are philosophically averse to decreased spending.