Rep. Kevin Cramer: Let's Get Rid Of The Income Tax

Yesterday Rep. Kevin Cramer appeared on the Jay Thomas Show on WDAY AM970. Jay and I were interviewing Cramer about his controversial campaign ad in the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery, but before we got into that topic Cramer weighed in on something Jay and I had been discussing in the previous segment.

Jay has been making noises about an initiated measure to eliminate North Dakota’s income tax. This is an idea that is gaining traction. Fargo-area luminary Doug Burgum made the case for eliminating income taxes earlier this year, and state Rep. Scott Louser is readying legislation for the 2015 session which would take the state’s income tax rates down to zero (in the 2013 session Louser had introduced a moratorium on collecting the income tax which failed).

I’ve spoken to legislative leadership who have expressed a desire to eliminate the income tax. Now Rep. Kevin Cramer, while not a state policy maker, is lending his voice to the cause.

“I have to weigh in on the income tax debate,” Cramer said. “For what it’s worth I’ve always been of the belief, and I think economic history will tell you this, but any time you can reduce or eliminate income tax its got the most benefit to the most people.”

Why the income tax?

“Largely because it’s just such a great incentive for job creation in addition to people getting to keep more of their own money,” Cramer said. “That’s always been my view. I’ve never shied away from expressing it. I wish we could do more of it in Congress but it’s great to be in a state where they actually have the opportunity to have a discussion about which taxes should we cut.”