We are continuing our ‘Reality Check’ series where we fact check political advertisement that’s airing here on KTVN 2 News Nevada.
On Tuesday, we fact checked our first advertisement in the Nevada Congressional District 2 race. It was Democratic nominee Teresa Benitez-Thompson’s ad from her campaign.
Now, we are going to look into an ad, that’s attacking her.
The “Necessities” commercial, is not directly from the Republican David Flippo’s campaign.
It’s from Club for Growth Action, a conservative super political action committee.
Claim one: Life’s necessities
“Benitez-Thompson backs policies that raise the cost of life's necessities,” the narrator said.
Verdict: Misleading
Life's necessities can cover a wide range of topics from person to person.
We asked the PAC, who is running the ad, where their evidence is to support this claim on numerous occasions.
They have not responded after three emails.
When looking at the board game depicted in the ad, it lists groceries, gas, rent, health insurance and student loans.
The one that has the most credence is gas.
In 2013, AB413 created a fuel index tax for Clark County from 2014 to 2016.
Benitez-Thompson voted 'yes' on it.
The assemblymember was a sponsor on Senate Bill 411 in 2015.
The law authorized school districts to establish a committee that could recommend additional taxes to voters to help pay for school construction and repair.
The possible taxes included property, sales, room, and governmental services.
However, it left it up to local jurisdictions and needed approval by the voters.
Washoe County used this to pursue WC1, which put a .54 Percent sales tax increase.
The ad does point to a KOLO article from May.
In the story, all that's possibly related to this is that she voted to expand access to health care and increase minimum wage.
In 2019 Benítez-Thompson did vote on a bill that raised the price of minimum wage, which could have had an indirect cost of raising store prices.
On the healthcare side, in 2017, she was a joint sponsor on a bill that made Nevada Medicaid cover contraceptives with no co-pays or higher deductibles.
Benitez-Thompson is also a joint sponsor on Assembly Bill 307 from the 2015 session that created a pilot program to provide intensive care services to children experiencing mental health issues.
Both pieces of legislation asked the state to use Medicaid funding, but it was not a direct increase to out of pocket costs.
In 2021, Benítez-Thompson was a joint sponsor on SB420.
The bill expanded Medicaid services, and looked for the state's purchasing power to help lower premiums and health insurance costs.
Which increased state spending, but does not point to patients having to pay more.
There's a possibility that there are other examples towards the ad's argument, but, again we have asked multiple times for the source and have not heard back.
Claim two: $1.4 billion
"Worse, Benitez-Thompson voted for the largest tax hike in state history 1.4 billion,” the narrator said.
Verdict: Misleading
Similar to the claim that was made in ‘Fifteen” fact-check we did, republican groups seem to try and put the blame of SB483 on democrats.
Benitez-Thompson did vote ‘yes’ on it, but it was Republican Governor Brian Sandoval’s massive tax bill that received bipartisan support.
29 other assemblymembers and 18 state senators also voted in favor.
Between the two houses there were 13 ‘no’ votes.
Claim three: Sales tax and taxing paychecks
"Raising sales tax. Taxing paychecks," the narrator continued.
Verdict: True and False
The sales tax portion is true, while the paychecks claim is false.
Starting with sales tax, SB483 made the .35 percent increase in the Local School Support Tax rate permanent.
The Local School Support Tax is one of the four rates in the statewide sales and use tax rate.
The ‘taxing your paycheck’ portion is also a claim we fact checked in the attack ad against democratic gubernatorial candidate Aaron Ford.
The bill includes a portion that taxes the employer, but specifically says they can’t deduct wages from employees.
The Modified Business Tax threshold was lowered to $50,000 from $85,000 for taxable employee wages.
The payroll tax was increased to 1.45 percent, but it only falls on the employer.
