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Rucho Resigns From Senate Committee

NC General Assembly

The co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee has resigned from that group to protest changes to his legislative body's tax reform plan.

Senator Bob Ruchosubmitted his resignation letterto Senate President Phil Berger earlier this week. Rucho was the main architect of a Senate tax reform proposal that would have expanded the sales tax while lowering personal and corporate income tax rates.

But Berger put forth an alternate plan that would repeal corporate taxes without expanding the sales tax base as extensively. Rucho says he was disappointed by the move.

"And by saying you know we don't want to broaden base, we don't want to tax services, we don't want to do all of the parts of the comprehensive tax plan that will make it work, forced Berger into saying well we need to have a compromise bill, and when they did that they basically gutted what comprehensive tax reform is," said Rucho.

The Senate tentatively approved Berger's plan earlier today. Senators plan to take a final vote on the measure on Tuesday.

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Jessica Jones covers both the legislature in Raleigh and politics across the state. Before her current assignment, Jessica was given the responsibility to open up WUNC's first Greensboro Bureau at the Triad Stage in 2009. She's a seasoned public radio reporter who's covered everything from education to immigration, and she's a regular contributor to NPR's news programs. Jessica started her career in journalism in Egypt, where she freelanced for international print and radio outlets. After stints in Washington, D.C. with Voice of America and NPR, Jessica joined the staff of WUNC in 1999. She is a graduate of Yale University.
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