In the U.S. Senate race, republican Charlie Summers is fighting back criticism over his call for the tax on capital gains to be reduced to nothing.
In a debate last week with independent Angus King and democrat Cynthia Dill, Summers said he would call for the capital gains tax to be lowered to zero.
Both King and Dill seized on the comments Sunday in telephone interviews with News 13. King says it doesn't make sense to him why someone working at BIW or IDEXX would have to pay more than someone who simply "gets a check in the mail." Dill told News 13 that the capital gains tax rate and income tax rates were equal under Reagan, and that the inequality has hurt the economy.
Summers' spokesman, Lance Dutson, didn't give News 13 a direct answer when asked if Summers stood by his call to eliminate the capital gains tax, but he did say increasing the capital gains tax to make it equal to the income tax rate would hurt "job creators" and the economy.