To the editor:

Congressman Patrick McHenry has been very focused on his plan to fix the country’s broken tax code.

He has maintained that it is an antiquated tax code that is failing small businesses and families across the country. He has fought for pro-growth tax reform that will lower rates and help turn our economy around.

Mr. McHenry has stated that the last thing hard-working people across western North Carolina need now are the kinds of tax increases that are advocated by his opponent, Rep. Patsy Keever.

Keever’s plan is to actually raise taxes. She has voted to raise tax revenue over twenty times during her time in government and has said that she would work on lowering the deficits by implementing the so-called Buffet Rule and other tax increases.

Nonpartisan fact checkers have estimated that the Buffet Rule would only raise enough revenue to cover one week of interest payments on the national debt.

Keever has also touted an endorsement from the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who put forth a budget that includes $2.8 trillion dollars in tax increases.

The budget, which increases taxes $5 trillion more than President Obama’s own proposal, would roll back all of the Bush tax cuts, essentially raising taxes on every single American.

Senior citizens, small business owners and farmers would be hit especially hard under the Keever-Progressive Caucus Budget.

Seniors and those living on fixed retirement income would see their taxes nearly doubled as the capital gains tax is increased to income tax levels.

Small business owners and farmers would struggle to pass on the family business to future generations under the plan, as it raises the Estate Tax to 45 percent.

Rep. Keever’s tax hikes are wrong for western North Carolina and wrong for our country.  Congressman McHenry believes that we need a fairer, flatter tax code that helps turn our economy around and lets hard working Americans keep more of their pay checks, not less.

If you care about getting our economy back on track, vote for Congressman Patrick McHenry.

– Cheryl Every, Columbus