Should Gov. Beverly Perdue take on taxes?
Gary Pearce says it may be just the issue Perdue, a Democrat, needs to make her mark.
Pearce, in his Talking About Politics blog, writes today that Perdue needs to find an issue that will get more attention than recent announcements she has made on new industries, rural health care and nanotechnology.
"It may be time to stop the short-yardage plays and start throwing for big gains," Pearce writes.
"In fact, it may be time to consider devoting her next two years to what common sense would tell you could be political suicide: sweeping tax reform."
Pearce argues that it takes a big issue to cut through the media clutter these days. He says such an issue could be a tax reform package that ends the state's "boom-and-bust budgeting" and pays for education reforms.
"Right now, Perdue's biggest problem is that nobody really knows what she stands for," he writes. "It's time to find it and stand for it."
