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A closer look at Question 4 on the Nevada ballot

Posted at 8:34 PM, Oct 27, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-27 23:34:24-04

Nevada voters are deciding on several ballot issues on the November ballot.

One measure is flying under the radar. Backers say Question 4 could save thousands of folks from paying sales tax on home medical equipment, such as oxygen tanks and motorized wheelchairs.

13 Action News sat down with the man behind the initiative who said it's a chance for voters to show compassion to the sick and dying.

"A large majority of our patients have suffered physically, immeasurably," said Doug Bennett, of Alliance to Stop Taxes on the Sick and Dying. "And to make them suffer financially as well, is immoral."

Bennett is a medical equipment owner who supports Question 4 and says it's wrong for Nevada to financially burden people like disabled worker Marylynn Russum who needs oxygen to live.

"And now I went from having a job to where I would probably be considered within a poverty level income," Russum said. "And so it's huge for people like me."

Bennett says passing Question 4 will only affected a small amount of state sales tax revenue. And since it's a constitutional change, it would need to be passed again in 2018.