New reporting today revealed audio of Congressman Budd at a campaign stop agreeing with the Republican plan to hike taxes on Americans. Independent analysis found that the GOP plan would raise taxes on nearly 40 percent of North Carolinians and an average of almost $1,500 less in families’ pockets each year. 

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American Independent: North Carolina GOP Senate nominee Budd embraces tax hike for 102 million people

• Rep. Ted Budd of North Carolina, the Republican nominee for his state’s open Senate seat, has endorsed the idea of a tax hike for most Americans, agreeing that everyone, no matter their income level, should have “skin in the game” by paying federal taxes.
• Budd also said that his party needs to be cautious about how it talks about National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Rick Scott’s unpopular “Rescue America” plan, which contained the provision that would have resulted in such a hike.
• Budd was asked at a May 12 campaign event in Pittsboro, North Carolina, whether he supported the provision in the plan that read, “All Americans should pay some income tax to have skin in the game, even if a small amount. Currently over half of Americans pay no income tax.”
• “As long as you flatten it, I’m for that,” Budd responded, captured in audio provided to the American Independent Foundation. 
• Scott’s proposal was part of an 11-point plan announced Feb. 22 for what Republicans would do if they regained a majority in Congress in November’s midterm elections. It also would provide for cuts to government assistance to kids and federal employment, stop government action to curb climate change, and institute an automatic expiration of every federal law every five years, requiring them all to be renegotiated and passed again by Congress, and including vital social safety net programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

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