Pete Ricketts is not playing straight with Nebraska voters about his involvement in raising taxes on hard working Nebraskans. In the debate last night, he said that his Platte Institute did not testify in support of raising sales taxes in Nebraska. In the transcript from the February 6th 2013 Revenue Committee hearing, Joseph Henchman says he was there “at the invitation of the Platte Institute here in Nebraska.”
In the debate, Ricketts claimed that Mr. Henchman mistakenly signed in as a “proponent” testifier. The record is clear again, Mr. Henchman signed in as a proponent for the sales tax increase (LB 405) immediately after Senator Hadley said “so would the first proponent want to please come up.” LB 405 would have added a tax to numerous transactions including prescription drugs, farm implements and hospital beds. Mr. Henchman said in his testimony “taxing consumption instead of taxing capital and wages leads to more economic growth,” and later said, “a different tax system can change a lot. Something bold is needed, I would argue.” There is nothing neutral about those comments.
“Now that Pete Ricketts needs the support of Nebraskans to become Governor, he is hiding from the fact that he supports raising taxes on 80% of Nebraskans while proposing cuts in taxes for those making the most” said Dan Marvin, Executive director of the Nebraska Democratic Party. Marvin continued “in this election, Nebraska Families can’t afford to be lied to by a candidate who won’t stand by his own record.”
