Center Assembles Expert Panel for Sales Tax Hearing

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  May 13, 2013 

Providence, RI — Hailed as the largest tax cut and economic stimulus plan the state of Rhode Island has ever considered, an expert panel has been assembled by the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity to testify at Wednesday’s hearing of the “Sales Tax Repeal Act of 2013” (H-5365) in front of the RI House Finance Committee on May 15, at 1:00 pm in Room 35 at the RI State House.

The panel is comprised of: Scott Moody, the national economist who authored the original Zero.Zero Sales Tax report in 2012, which inspired the bill sponsored by Rep. Jan Mailik (D-67); Paul Bachman, from the Beacon Hill Institute, which developed the STAMP modeling program that produced the job and revenue projections used in the Zero.Zero reports; the Center’s CEO, Mike Stenhouse; and the Center’s research director, Justin Katz.

The updated 2013 Zero.Zero report showed that as little as $105 million in budget savings could put the Ocean State on the path towards 25,000 new jobs and a re-invigorated economy, if the state were to repeal its onerous sales and meals tax.

“This is the only game-changing reform idea out there for a state economy that desperately needs a game-changing idea”, said Stenhouse. “This is a reform that would immediately save money for every family and business, and that would attract out-of-state shoppers to our state. Because of the regressive nature of the sales tax – and eliminating it would help low-income families most – we are seeing support from across the political spectrum. We invite all members of the public to attend the hearing and see how this plan can put Rhode Islanders back to work.”

The Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity, a non-partisan public policy think tank, is the state’s leading free-enterprise advocacy organization. With a credo that freedom is indispensable to citizens’ well-being and prosperity, the Center’s mission is to stimulate a rigorous exchange of ideas with the goal of restoring competitiveness to Rhode Island through the advancement of market-based reform solutions.

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