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Sept. 12, 2019Lincoln, NE |  By: AP

Gage County in Nebraska raises sales tax to help pay debt owed to Beatrice Six

A Nebraska county that owes more than $30 million to six
people wrongfully convicted of murder has approved a new half-cent sales tax to
help pay the legal judgment.

The Gage County Board of Supervisors voted 7-0 on Wednesday to impose the sales
tax which will generate an additional $1.3 million annually to cover the
county's debt.

The wrongfully convicted, known as the Beatrice Six, spent more than 70 years
in prison for a 1985 rape and murder in Beatrice before DNA evidence exonerated
them in 2008.

Gage County has already raised its property tax as high as legally allowed and
has started making payments, but county officials say relying on property taxes
alone isn't fair to farmers and homeowners who pay a much larger share than
other residents.