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Amy Sherman
By Amy Sherman October 18, 2012

Connie Mack says -- repeatedly -- that Bill Nelson voted for higher taxes 150 times

Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is a big fan of tax increases, says his Republican rival U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV of Fort Myers.

"Bill Nelson voted for higher taxes 150 times, 150 times," Mack said during a debate at Nova Southeastern University in Davie Oct. 17. "I voted to cut taxes … if you voted for higher taxes 150 times, it's time for you to go."

Later in the debate Nelson said that Mack’s claim was "simply not true."

"Outside fact-check organizations have said it's not true," Nelson said. "You haven’t talked about all the tax cuts I voted for."

Mack repeated the claim again: "Senator, your propensity to vote for higher taxes is shocking, absolutely shocking. Like I said, if you voted for higher taxes 150 times, it’s time for you to go."

We fact-checked this claim by Mack in August and rated it False. We will summarize what we learned from our earlier research.

Double-counting votes and other tallying tricks

Mack’s campaign sent us a list of what they characterized as at least 157 votes in favor of higher taxes during Nelson’s Senate career, which started in 2001. (They sent us a similar list again the night of the debate.)

About half of the votes on the list are Democratic budget resolutions, which set non-binding parameters for considering tax and spending legislation. So it's technically incorrect to say the budget resolution raised, lowered or even kept taxes the same. The documents cannot change tax law.

Mack’s tally counts multiple votes on the same budget resolution. For example, Mack cites nine votes Nelson took in 2008 about Congressional Resolution 70, a five-year budget plan.

Mack also counted multiple votes on actual legislation. It’s common for senators to take multiple votes as both parties engage in maneuvering and introduce competing amendments.

For example, in 2001 Mack counts 15 of Nelson’s votes against H.R. 1836 -- the $1.35 trillion in tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush. That counts as one example of Nelson opposing tax cuts -- not 15 examples.

Which brings us to another point: Is opposing a tax cut the same as "voting to raise our taxes?" Mack’s list counts several examples of Nelson opposing tax cuts. Some are minor, such as Nelson’s vote to table an amendment to get rid of the medical device tax in 2010.

We sent Mack’s list to a three federal budget experts, who  generally agreed that a vote against a new tax cut doesn’t equal a tax increase.

Joshua Gordon, policy director of the Concord Coalition, a group that urges deficit reduction, said Mack’s long list was "ludicrous."

"Voting to lessen the size of a tax cut in a budget resolution is not voting for a tax increase," he said. "So, I would argue the methodology represents a crazy way to look at this issue."

Nelson supported some tax cuts

Mack’s statement omits that Nelson has sometimes voted in favor of tax cuts. Here, we will focus on the Bush tax cuts.

Nelson opposed a $1.35 trillion tax cut in 2001 because he said it didn’t do enough to reduce debt or help low- and middle-income taxpayers. He also said that as a congressman he had voted for President Ronald Reagan’s 1981 tax cuts and that led to huge deficits.

"I don't want to see Congress make that mistake again," Nelson said in 2001.

In 2003 on the second round of Bush tax cuts, Nelson voted against the $350 billion package on the conference report. But in 2006 and in 2010 Nelson, supported extending the tax cuts.

This year, he went along with Obama’s plan and voted in July to keep tax cuts only for those earning less than $250,000, though he had said he would have preferred keeping the Bush-era tax cuts for those earning up to $1 million.

"His favored position, and one he still holds, is to let the Bush cuts expire on those making more than $1 million," said his Senate spokesman Dan McLaughlin.

Nelson called for other tax cuts at times. During his first Senate term he bucked his party in favor of repealing the estate tax and in 2007 he sponsored an amendment to reduce the tax on large cigars.

Some of Nelson’s votes cited by Mack would only affect certain businesses -- for example he voted in favor of repealing exemptions for oil and gas companies in 2010. He took many votes in favor of eliminating corporate tax breaks to pay for projects such as port security.

Mack’s spokesman told us that the largest tax increase Nelson voted for was "Obamacare." The health care law did raise taxes on the wealthy and health insurance companies. (Read about those provisions in a fact-check we did on a claim by Rush Limbaugh.)

In an interview on debate night, Mack campaign consultant Gary Maloney defended including the budget resolutions and said they are important because they bind congressional committees on their spending and build in assumptions of revenue, taxes and spending. "A vote for a budget that assumes higher taxes is a vote that is designed to produce a revenue bill that will raise taxes," he said.

Our ruling

Mack said, "Bill Nelson voted for higher taxes 150 times."

Mack arrives at that figure through some tricks: He counts non-binding resolutions and duplicative votes on the same bill. He counts a vote against a tax cut as a vote for a tax increase, even though it’s not the same thing. And Mack failed to tell debate viewers that Nelson has also voted in favor of tax cuts or extending tax cuts.

In the list of votes that Mack supplied to PolitiFact after the debate, he included a note that explained it included non-binding votes and other caveats. But during the debate, Mack didn’t explain any of that -- he just repeated the claim without further explanation.

We rate this claim False.

Our Sources

U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV’s U.S. Senate campaign,list of Sen. Bill Nelson’s votes, 2001- July 2012

U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV’s U.S. Senate campaign, list of Sen. Bill Nelson’s votes included an updated note, 2001-July 2012

Miami Herald’s Naked Politics blog, "Connie Mack video response to Nelson ad: Senator’s a ‘typical career politican wants to talk about Hooters and what I did as a kid,"Aug. 9,  2012

PolitiFact, "94? Not even close,"Oct. 7, 2008

PolitiFact, "The budget resolution isn’t that clear,"April  14, 2008

PolitiFact, "Adding up Bill McCollum’s votes to raise taxes and fees,"Aug. 10, 2012

PolitiFact,  "Limbaugh, GOP  have it wrong:  health care law is not the largest tax increase ever,"June 28, 2012

PolitiFact, "Bill Nelson says Connie Mack IV has been a "promoter for Hooters with a history of bar room brawling, altercations and road rage,"Aug. 7, 2012

PolitiFact, "Another outside group says Bill Nelson was the deciding vote," July 11, 2012

FactCheck.org, "Tall Tax Tales," Oct. 22, 2010

Tampa Bay Times, "Tax cut's fate rests with compromise," Accessed in Nexis, May 22, 2001

Tampa Bay Times, "Bush sells tax cut in Florida," Accessed in Nexis, March 13, 2001

Miami Herald,  "Bush tax cut approved -- barely,"  Accessed in Nexis, May 24, 2003

Miami Herald, "Bill Nelson’s tax vote could help the budget -- of Connie Mack’s campaign," July 27, 2012

Tampa Bay Times,"Sen. Bill Nelson fights off GOP  efforts  to tag him a liberal," Feb. 6, 2011

U.S. Senate, Senate amendment 4218 to Congressional Resolution 70, March 13, 2008

U.S. Senate, Senate amendment 4160 to Congressional Resolution 70, March 13, 2008

U.S. Senate, Senate amendment 3537 to H.R. 4872, March 24, 2010

U.S. Senate, H.R. 2, May 23, 2003

U.S. Senate, H.R. 4297, May 11, 2006

U.S. Senate, Senate Amendment 3054 to S. Con. Res. 83, March 15, 2006

U.S. Senate, Senate amendment 4318 to H.R. 4213,  June 15, 2010

The Library of Congress, Senate amendment 2619, Aug. 2, 2007

New York Times Inside Congress, Senate Vote 276 Passes Obama’s Tax Plan, Dec. 15, 2010

Interview, David James, spokesman for U.S. Senate candidate Connie Mack, Aug. 3, 2012

Interview, Dan McLaughlin, spokesman for U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, Aug. 6, 2012

Interview, Jason Peuquet, Research Director, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Aug. 15, 2012

Interview, Joshua Gordon, policy director for the Concord Coalition, Aug. 16, 2012

Interview, Joe Rosenberg, research associate for the Tax Policy Center, Aug. 16, 2012

Interview, Gary Maloney, Connie Mack campaign consultant, Oct. 17, 2012

Browse the Truth-O-Meter

More by Amy Sherman

Connie Mack says -- repeatedly -- that Bill Nelson voted for higher taxes 150 times

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