Frank Kratovil’s “Great Big Tax”

SEVERNA PARK, Md. – After airing ads that bend the truth about his own record, Frank Kratovil has resorted to false, negative attacks on Andy Harris. Kratovil is now airing a desperate attack against Andy Harris claiming Harris supports a 23 percent sales tax increase, which is untrue. Why is someone who says he is ahead in the polls running such a false, negative campaign?

“Andy Harris has a proven 12-year record of cutting taxes and supports fairer and lower taxes,” said Bill Lattanzi, Harris’s campaign manager. “Andy took a pledge to never raise taxes while in the state Senate. Andy kept his word and honored that pledge not to raise taxes and anyone who claims otherwise is simply acting as politicians do – lying.”

“Frank Kratovil should take a look at his own record,” said Lattanzi. “Kratovil voted for the Cap and Trade Energy Tax, which would demolish the agriculture industries, kill jobs, and raise taxes $1,600 per year for every single household in the First District.”

Democrats across the country have attempted this attack on candidates who advocate cutting taxes for all Americans. The independent site, factcheck.org, calls the attack “misleading” and “false,” explaining the proposal would “repeal the federal income tax entirely and do away with the Internal Revenue Service. It would also eliminate gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare and self-employment taxes.”

Here are the facts on Frank Kratovil’s Energy Tax:
Democratic Congressman John Dingell said that “Cap and Trade is a tax, and it’s a great big one.” (“Dingell: cap and trade a “great big” tax,” Politico, April 27, 2009)

The Wall Street Journal said “Americans should know that those Members who vote for this climate bill are voting for what is likely to be the biggest tax in American history. Even Democrats can’t repeal that reality.” (Editorial, “The Cap and Tax Fiction,” The Wall Street Journal, June 26, 2009)

Warren Buffett said on CNBC, “I think if you get into the way it was written, it’s a huge tax and there’s no sense calling it anything else. I mean, it is a tax. And it’s a fairly regressive tax.” (“Warren Buffett’s Live Lunch Interview on CNBC,” CNBC Website, June 24, 2009)

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the tax would be a $1,600 per year cost increase for households. (“Cap-and-Trade: All Cost, No Benefit,” Washington Post, June 1, 2009)

Farmers on the Eastern Shore fear Cap and Trade will “drive up their costs at a time when many operations are struggling to stay profitable.” (“Farmers fear climate bill cost,” Daily Times, July 2, 2009)

Barack Obama, while campaigning for president, said “Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.” (“Coal in your stocking,” National Review, Nov. 3, 2008)

The National Association of Manufacturers and the American Council for Capital Formation said by 2030 Maryland will lose 41,450 jobs and household income will decrease by $1,200.

(Maryland: Economic Impact on the State from the Waxman-Markey Bill,” National Associations of Manufacturers and American Council for Capital Formation, Aug. 12, 2009)
Americans for Tax Reform called Cap and Trade “job killing” and to think otherwise is “criminally stupid.” (“Farmers fear climate bill cost,” Daily Times, July 2, 2009)