Hagan's '07 push to end temporary taxes

Kay Hagan tried to end the temporary taxes in 2007.

Two recent ads have attacked the Democratic Senate candidate over her votes for temporary taxes instituted in the 2001 budget and later extended, so Dome is taking a closer look at her record.

As a budget writer in 2007, Hagan pushed to let both taxes expire, according to an Associated Press article on May 30 of that year:

In what's likely to be a sticking point in final budget negotiations with the House and Gov. Mike Easley for the new fiscal year starting July 1, the Senate plan lets expire two "temporary" taxes first agreed to in 2001, but extended twice since. A portion was removed last year.

The House's two-year budget approved earlier this month keeps a quarter-penny on the sales tax and a higher income tax bracket for the state's top wage-earners for another two years. Those moves add about $300 million to the government coffers next year to pay for education and health care needs. Easley's budget proposal also retained the taxes.

"We want those to sunset," said Sen. Kay Hagan, D-Guilford, one of the Senate's chief budget-writers.

On June 4, the Greensboro News & Record quoted Hagan on the taxes: "It's time for them to go."

The final budget negotiated by House and Senate leaders and the governor allowed the temporary tax on higher income earners to expire at the end of the year, but made half of the sales tax increase permanent.

Hagan voted for the final budget.