In Lt. Gov. Debate, Patrick and Van de Putte Spar Over Taxes, ACA, Education and Abortion [View all]
In the only scheduled debate in their race for lieutenant governor, state Sens. Dan Patrick and Leticia Van de Putte faced off on Monday night in a lively exchange that displayed their divergent positions on everything from health care and immigration to school finance and taxes.
Both candidates played offense: Patrick, R-Houston, attempted to portray Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, as out of step with Texas voters. Van de Putte used the back-and-forth to try to pin Patrick down on votes he'd taken on cuts to public education. But one of the biggest points of contention in the hourlong showdown in Austin was over the states tax structure.
Patrick recently called for reducing the states dependence on the property tax to fund public schools and relying on the states sales tax instead. On Monday, Van de Putte used Patrick's position to argue that he would raise the sales tax, which she said would hurt businesses and consumers. Patrick sought to clarify his proposal, saying he would only support increasing the sales tax by a penny or two to compensate for reduced revenue from property taxes.
There's two people standing on this stage, and Im the only one that doesnt want to raise your sales taxes, Van de Putte said. To burden Texas businesses and families with a sales tax increase ... well, thats not being pro-business.
Read more: http://www.texastribune.org/2014/09/29/debate-van-de-putte-and-patrick-sound-over-taxes/