Issue Position: Taxes

Issue Position

* HB 84 (1996 Regular Session) Provides for an income tax credit for a taxpayer providing care for a physically or mentally disabled person ..... Voted For

* HB 196 (1996 Regular Session) Provides for an exemption from sales tax the purchase of farm equipment (Amendment B-14) .....Voted For

* HB 19 (1996 Regular Session) Adds exemption from sales and use tax for water, natural gas, electric power, and food for private consumption(would have given taxpayers a $430 Million Dollar tax break) ..... Voted For

* HB 196 (1996 Regular Session) Extended 4% sales tax ($430 Million) on Food, Drugs and Utilities when there already existed a $318 Million Dollar Surplus .....Voted Against

* Act 818 (1997 Regular Session) Eliminated the Inheritance Tax .....Voted For

* Act 1491 (1997 Regular Session) Freezes homeowner tax assessments for persons 65 years of age .....Voted For

* SB 986 (1999 Regular Session) Authorizes the increase of the local sales tax rate from 4% to 5% .....Voted Against

* HLRS 98-158 (1998 Regular Session) (Marionneaux Bill) Exempts adaptive driving equipment for handicapped persons from state sales taxes .....Voted For

* Creation of the Rainy Day Trust Fund (Requires that the state deposit 25% of any surplus revenues into the Rainy Day Trust Fund (the first deposit of $23.5 Million Dollars has been made) .....Voted For

* HB 640 (1999 Regular Session) Creation of the Millennium Trust - The plan would place 75% of the tobacco settlement payments into the trust reserved specifically for Healthcare, K - 12 Education, and the TOPS program .....Voted For

* Total state debt has been reduced from $6.48 Billion Dollars to $2.81 Billion Dollars during these past four years

Finally, after years of free spending by past legislature's, we have begun to plan for our future! Four consecutive years of a balanced budget while reducing sales taxes for individuals, that's my record!

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