Wednesday, December 4, 2013 - Recently Governor Heineman has stated that he will again focus his efforts to cut income tax rates on top earners, despite recommendations from the Tax Modernization Committee to the contrary. In response, Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Chuck Hassebrook, has issued the following statement:
“Nebraskans rose up in opposition last year when Governor Heineman proposed cutting taxes on the highest earners by replacing the income tax with new sales taxes on students, manufacturers, family farmers and ranchers, and people seeking medical care.
“There are reasonable changes we can make to our state’s tax structure, which is why the Tax Modernization Committee was formed. The committee held hearings all over the state to hear concerns and take suggestions about possible reforms that could be made, and they came back with a number of workable proposals. Not one of the recommendations from the Tax Modernization Committee was to cut income tax rates for top earners – in fact, the recommendation was not to make any changes to tax rates at all, but to adjust tax brackets to account for inflation.
“I oppose cutting the income tax rate on the top one or two percent of earners because it squanders our capacity to invest in our future, and it will shift the tax burden from those most able to pay to those less able to pay.
“As Governor, I would focus tax reforms on targeted property tax relief for modest income homeowners and family farmers and ranchers.”
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Without taxes, the only motivator is personal profit, and I really don’t want to see the greatest country in history devolve into a question of “What’s in it for me?”
Income taxes are a powerful tool of tyrants to destroy improvement in the standard of living and a tool to keep the people enslaved in poverty.