A Sad Day For Nebraska Taxpayers
[Editor’s Note: The following is an edited reprint from the web page of EPIC (Eliminate Property, Income, Corporate Tax), sponsored by The Consumption Tax Institute, Inc. of Omaha, Nebraska. This group is promoting a state-level FAIRtax in Nebraska. Here is what they have to say about a temporary setback they experienced on April 5, 2022.]
Nebraska Lawmakers Ignore the Will of the People!
It never has been clearer that our tax proposal has engendered a conflict between the interests of the state and its legislatures and the will of the people! We are thankful for the seventy Nebraska taxpayers (picture to the left) that came to Lincoln [Editor’s note: the State Capital of Nebraska] on their own dime to support Sen. Steve Erdman and the other cosponsors of LR 264 CA!
We also are grateful for those cosponsors and other courageous senators who voted for the resolution!
What Does This Mean?
The proposed EPIC Tax resolution is the only measure that gives Nebraskans their property rights back. Our state senators put their own desire to prognosticate and play politics ahead of principle. Our country was founded on property rights. The original draft of the Declaration of Independence delineated "certain unalienable rights" as including, "Life, Liberty, and Property". Those three rights still are memorialized for posterity in the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Fifth Amendment specifies that "No person... shall be deprived of life, liberty or property".
How can that be with Nebraska's confiscatory taxes on property and income? If our state senators were thinking about that, it did not show in their voting. Of course, many of them do think about it. However, their fear of the current system is not as great as the unknown. Sadly, many of them felt as if they were in the unknown because they had not done their homework. Sen. Erdman has done a yeoman's job of making materials available to them as well as his time for any questions or concerns they had. Debate started with solid momentum with Senator Erdman sharing a letter from the Attorney General stating that the EPIC constitutional amendment language did meet the single subject rule requirement to be placed on the ballot.
That statement fell on deaf ears as the senators [Editor’s note: Nebraska has a unicameral legislature, and all legislators are called “senators.”] asked questions that showed they hadn't taken this truly major tax reform seriously. We ended up with:
yes
no
10 Present Not Voting
3 Excused Not Voting (Sen. Day, Lindstrom, Pahls)
The scoreboard looked like this: … .
We needed 25 Yes votes to win this first round of debate called "General File." Please contact these 19 Senators and tell them THANK YOU for voting YES for EPIC Consumption Tax Reform: … . [Editor’s note: If you want to see the full article with the names of the senators, go to www.EPICtax.org.]
These 14 Senators voted NO: …
Please contact them and ask why they voted NO and blocked taxpayers from voting on this constitutional amendment.
These 13 Senators voted Present Not Voting (PNV): …
Please contact them and ask why they stood on the sidelines and did not vote to support EPIC Consumption Tax Reform. A PNV vote has the same effect as a NO vote.
…
…
[Editor’s note: Here comes the sidewinder pitch!]
We are not going away!
The senators may not be there all the time… But we never will give up fighting for your property rights! In the future we will share our updated EPIC strategy. We are on the map, but we need many more people to know not just about us, but to understand our proposal and how it restores their property rights and freedom of choice. We have many more people to educate and get on board.
[End of article.]
We heard from our FAIRtax delegate, Rob Rohrbough who writes: While our proposal to put an amendment into the ballot this fall failed on the floor of the Unicameral, we are laying plans for the two years from now and the next state-wide election in 2024. After our strategy meeting this weekend, I should be able to give you a more detailed report at our next AFFT Board or Delegate meeting.
We know that, if anybody can pull this legislation off, Rob can!
I would love to hear if any movement is going on in your state to advance a state-level FAIRtax bill.
Take Back Control!
Jim Bennett
AFFT Grassroots Coordinator & SecretaryNebraska Lawmakers Ignore the Will of the People!
It never has been clearer that our tax proposal has engendered a conflict between the interests of the state and its legislatures and the will of the people! We are thankful for the seventy Nebraska taxpayers (picture to the left) that came to Lincoln [Editor’s note: the State Capital of Nebraska] on their own dime to support Sen. Steve Erdman and the other cosponsors of LR 264 CA!
We also are grateful for those cosponsors and other courageous senators who voted for the resolution!
What Does This Mean?
The proposed EPIC Tax resolution is the only measure that gives Nebraskans their property rights back. Our state senators put their own desire to prognosticate and play politics ahead of principle. Our country was founded on property rights. The original draft of the Declaration of Independence delineated "certain unalienable rights" as including, "Life, Liberty, and Property". Those three rights still are memorialized for posterity in the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Fifth Amendment specifies that "No person... shall be deprived of life, liberty or property".
How can that be with Nebraska's confiscatory taxes on property and income? If our state senators were thinking about that, it did not show in their voting. Of course, many of them do think about it. However, their fear of the current system is not as great as the unknown. Sadly, many of them felt as if they were in the unknown because they had not done their homework. Sen. Erdman has done a yeoman's job of making materials available to them as well as his time for any questions or concerns they had. Debate started with solid momentum with Senator Erdman sharing a letter from the Attorney General stating that the EPIC constitutional amendment language did meet the single subject rule requirement to be placed on the ballot.
That statement fell on deaf ears as the senators [Editor’s note: Nebraska has a unicameral legislature, and all legislators are called “senators.”] asked questions that showed they hadn't taken this truly major tax reform seriously. We ended up with:
yes
no
10 Present Not Voting
3 Excused Not Voting (Sen. Day, Lindstrom, Pahls)
The scoreboard looked like this: … .
We needed 25 Yes votes to win this first round of debate called "General File." Please contact these 19 Senators and tell them THANK YOU for voting YES for EPIC Consumption Tax Reform: … . [Editor’s note: If you want to see the full article with the names of the senators, go to www.EPICtax.org.]
These 14 Senators voted NO: …
Please contact them and ask why they voted NO and blocked taxpayers from voting on this constitutional amendment.
These 13 Senators voted Present Not Voting (PNV): …
Please contact them and ask why they stood on the sidelines and did not vote to support EPIC Consumption Tax Reform. A PNV vote has the same effect as a NO vote.
…
…
[Editor’s note: Here comes the sidewinder pitch!]
We are not going away!
The senators may not be there all the time… But we never will give up fighting for your property rights! In the future we will share our updated EPIC strategy. We are on the map, but we need many more people to know not just about us, but to understand our proposal and how it restores their property rights and freedom of choice. We have many more people to educate and get on board.
[End of article.]
We heard from our FAIRtax delegate, Rob Rohrbough who writes: While our proposal to put an amendment into the ballot this fall failed on the floor of the Unicameral, we are laying plans for the two years from now and the next state-wide election in 2024. After our strategy meeting this weekend, I should be able to give you a more detailed report at our next AFFT Board or Delegate meeting.
We know that, if anybody can pull this legislation off, Rob can!
I would love to hear if any movement is going on in your state to advance a state-level FAIRtax bill.
Take Back Control!
Jim Bennett
🇺🇸 Call For Pictures & WriteUps - When others see your activity, they are inspired, the process snowballs and Representatives, Senators and, yes, even the President start to listen to you and me. Please send your material to me at Jim.Bennett@FAIRtax.org.
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