Perdue suggests restoring three-quarters of the one-cent sales tax hike

Gov. Bev Perdue announced this afternoon that she plans to recommend restoring three-quarters of a one-cent sales tax increase in her budget for the new fiscal year. The Republican-led General Assembly allowed the temporary one-cent sales tax increase to expire, as originally planned, last year. Perdue and Democrats had called for at least part of it to be renewed.

In a statement, Perdue cast the issue as one of saving public education:

Education has always been part of the fabric of who we are as a people in North Carolina and it’s the key to our future. We must stop the deep and unnecessary cuts that are going on in North Carolina’s schools. That’s why I’m for temporarily restoring three-quarters of the one-cent sales tax that the Republican-controlled General Assembly eliminated and for dedicating those funds to North Carolina schools.

An interesting political dynamic to note is that N.C. Rep. Bill Faison, D-Orange, has proposed essentially the same tax hike in his plan. Faison has drawn the ire of fellow Democrats for taking on Perdue while assuring party faithful that he won’t primary her.

As part of her proposed budget last year, Perdue made the same recommendation of keeping three-quarters of the penny sales tax.

Update (2:20 p.m.): The schism between Perdue and Faison was evident on Twitter in the hour following Perdue’s announcement. Jeanne Bonds, who faithfully tweets in favor of Faison and against Republicans and other Democrats, fired away with a number of remarks critical of the governor, suggesting that Perdue was copycatting Faison and that she had stolen his ideas. “It took 4 1/2 months for @NCGovOffice to agree with @BillFaison on a fraction of a penny for progress,” Bonds wrote.

On his official Twitter account, Faison wrote, “Glad to see @ncgovoffice finally endorses a solid plan I put forth months ago with 70 percent of my House Colleagues.”

Update (2:45 p.m.): Republicans were quick to pounce on Perdue’s announcement. Scott Laster, executive director of the N.C. GOP, had had this to say:

Governor Perdue often chooses silence on controversial issues like the criminal scandals involving her campaign and administration, but she apparently can’t bite her tongue when the subject matter involves her desire to raise taxes. We don’t have to read her lips, when we can simply hear her re-election slogan now: Perdue 2012 ‘For more… taxes!’