Republican legislative leaders must be awfully worried about Gov. Beverly Perdue’s proposal to raise the sales tax three-fourths of a penny to restore some of the devastating budget cuts to public schools that lawmakers made last year.

That’s the only plausible explanation for their puzzling statements and odd behavior in the last few days.

Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger held a news conference Tuesday to challenge Perdue to a public debate about her tax plan. That came just a few days after Berger called the proposal dead on arrival at the General Assembly.

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