TO THE POLLS: More than 20 local races will be decided in the Triangle tomorrow. (N&O)

BLAZING AN UGLY TRAIL: Former Gov. Mike Easley's case before the State Board of Elections may make it easier to hold candidates liable for what their campaigns do. (News & Record)

A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA: Three state agencies will get back $34 million withheld earlier this year to make sure the budget balanced. (AP)

North Carolina's sales tax rises tomorrow by a penny from 6.75 percent in most counties to 7.75 percent.

The increase was pushed by Gov. Beverly Perdue and adopted by legislative leaders, all Democrats, as part of a $1 billion tax increase package and a series of spending cuts to balance the state budget this year.

The local portion of the sales tax can vary, as in Mecklenburg County, which includes and additional 1/2-cent transit tax. Its rate will be 8.25 percent starting tomorrow. Alexander, Catawba, Cumberland, Haywood, Martin, Pitt, Sampson, and Surry Counties will have rates of 8 percent.

The sales tax accounts for about 30 percent of state revenue, but it also is the quickest source when legislators are looking for a cash infusion. Consumers start paying it right away, while income tax increases are mostly paid the following year.

The sales tax is criticized as disproportionately burdening middle and lower class taxpayers and also because the tax base for it is shrinking. Consumer spending has been shifting toward services, many of which are not taxed.

The numbers of votes and voters provide a little background behind the two House Democrats who voted against the tax-raising House budget last week.

Rep. R. Van Braxton, a Kinston Insurance agent, won by one of the narrowest victories in the House last fall, 51.6 percent to 48.4 percent, against former Rep. Stephen Laroque, a Republican. Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly two to one in the district, but they don't vote that way. The district crosses three counties -- Greene, Wayne and Lenoir -- that were all won by U.S. Sen. John McCain.

Rep. Cullie Tarleton, a retired broadcaster from Blowing Rock, represents a district with more Republican registered voters than Democrats. He won by a solid margin in the fall, 51.7 percent to 44.3 percent, but he was undoubtedly helped by a Libertarian candidate who took 4 percent of the vote. 

Senate Republican leader Phil Berger said House Democrats are pushing through new taxes when they could have cut, among other expenses, corporate incentives and a new fishing pier in Nags Head.

Berger drove home the Republican message of cutting more and taxing less by highlighting $25 million slated for a new pier in Nags Head, Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight's district; $46 million in incentives for Apple Computer to locate a data warehouse in the state and create about 50 jobs and thousands of dollars for N.C. State University's provost after he resigned his position amid the controversy surrounding the hiring of former First Lady Mary Easley.

The Democrats' tax package would raise $784 million toward balancing the budget.

The N.C. Senate passed a state budget this afternoon that doesn't say where $500 million in revenue would come from, would add two students to the average public school classroom and would lay off 700 state employees.

Senators approved the $20 billion spending plan mostly along party lines, 32 to 16. It must pass a second vote tomorrow before going to the House, where significant changes are expected before the two halves of the legislature write a compromise version.

Democrats said they balanced the need for cuts with protecting both education and those in need. Republicans said the plan still would spend more money than this year and leaves a gaping hole to fill in future years.

Sen. Dan Clodfelter, a Charlotte Democrat, defended the unidentified $500 million in revenue, saying Senate leaders can't specify a tax package until they know what the April 15 tax returns will look like. Those numbers provide the clearest indicator of revenue for next year.