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Video: When A Republican Opposes Tax Cuts

North Dakota State Representative SuAnn Olson (R) was the lone opposition to HB 1158, the Flat Income Tax Reform bill.
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Yesterday, during the House Finance and Tax Committee hearing on HB 1158, something astonishing happened that left a lot of people thinking “what was she thinking?”

Newly elected state representative SuAnn Olson (R) took to the podium to oppose the largest single tax cut for regular citizens in North Dakota history on a dollar basis.

Her reasoning?

  1. Nobody complains about income taxes.

  2. Only rich people pay enough income taxes to matter.

  3. Non-residents who generate economic activity in North Dakota will benefit and lose their tax credits in other states.

  4. North Dakota’s tax credit system which is designed to manipulate behavior will not be as effective.

  5. The state should increase spending in the hopes that local government will cut property taxes. (Something that has been proven not to work for the last 15 years.)

It was an impressive list of Democratic talking points, made even more by the fact they were coming from a “Republican”.

Supporting a flat income tax model has been bi-partisan in pas…

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Authors
Dustin Gawrylow