From Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham:

Obviously, Gov. Perdue’s attempt to nip this economic recovery in the bud is dead on arrival at the General Assembly. The Democratic primary for governor apparently has devolved into a fight over who can raise the most taxes, spend the most money, and grow the biggest government. Gov. Perdue’s latest tax-hike stunt proves she can’t fix this mess she made. The governor’s proposal comes just a few weeks after her own education agency released a report showing more than 4,000 state-funded education positions were added over the past year.
 

From House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg

Governor Perdue continues to show that she is out of touch with North Carolinians and lacks a basic understanding of our economy. Her proposal, which would raise the state portion of the sales tax by an estimated 15%, would make it harder for working families to purchase prepared food, clothing, medical supplies and other basic necessities to support an extreme agenda for larger government. That is completely unacceptable. This regressive tax would make it more expensive for single moms to buy carryout food for their children, force seniors to pay more for medical supplies, and would negatively impact every level of society. Now is not the time to raise taxes, especially in light of the fact that the General Assembly’s education budget was only 0.5% different than the Governor’s – and we did not raise taxes.