Taxes/Economy/Jobs
I will work to reduce the tax burden on Minnesotans and remove obstacles for the many businesses in our district to succeed.
Individual, corporate, and capital gains tax rates must be reduced in order to grow our economy.
1. Minnesota has among the highest corporate and individual income tax rates. Fortune Small Business Magazine cites high state and local taxes as an issue for business expansion in our Minnesota cities. Penalizing hard work, business and prosperity-the legislature's answer to fairness and equality-are never acceptable ways to impose tax structures.
2. The reality is businesses pass the tax burden on to employees and customers. After all, corporations are made up of average people who work and are shareholders investing in their retirement. Raising the corporate tax or mandating corporate spending is the quickest way to stifle job growth. I have met with corporate employees in our district that disclose they've moved portions of their business overseas in order to grow, stay competitive, or just survive. Countries like Ireland can offer less than one half of the tax burden that Minnesota places on business. Current tax policy has lost Minnesota jobs not only overseas, but to our neighboring states as well.
3. The majority of Minnesotans are perplexed that the legislature passed one of the largest tax increases in these struggling economic times. Don't believe the legislature's claim that it was done to create jobs. It is the private sector that creates jobs, not the government. Free markets maximize the talents and innovations of individuals to produce goods and services. They are the agent of change.
4. Only the private sector can make the economic pie bigger for all to share, every time the government takes more of the people's money, this pie shrinks.
5. The legislature wants to penalize hard workers, yet creates and expands programs that promote the cycle of poverty and government reliance. Instead, government should provide safety net programs to temporarily help citizens with the tools they need to encourage self reliance.
6. Property tax should not be based on the unrealized value of property that arbitrarily grows by double digits each year. This is like taxing potential income instead of actual income.
Back to top
Budget
I will apply strong fiscal management prioritizing the budget.
New spending strategies must be considered to get off the budget as usual cycle where any change is considered a cut.
1. This biennium's budget increased by almost 10%, well above inflation. Legislators turned a $2 Billion surplus into a nearly $1 Billion deficit in a year. In my 48 years, the state budget has increased by $34 Billion, close to 12% of that came this last year; that's what happens when tax and spend politicians play Monopoly with other people's money.
2. The legislature should explore the concept of zero-based budgeting in which an entirely new budget is developed every two years that does not use prior spending as a base. Place the focus on priorities, value and outcomes. Evaluate whether programs are actually the role of government, are they achieving the desired results, and should they continue, be refined, expanded or eliminated.
3. The legislature should explore principles that limit state spending to inflation and a defined percentage based on factors such as population, property, or enrollment. Increased voter participation would be required for additional tax revenue increases or extensions or debt obligations.
4. Surplus revenue should be refunded, unless voters determine otherwise.
Back to top
Health Care
I will work to give individuals the freedom of buying power to choose services and negotiate price of their health insurance.
1. Government intervention into the health care industry has made health insurance an employer's responsibility. Many companies are outsourcing, partly due to the increased cost of health insurance benefits. Employees are stuck with one size fits all managed plans that most likely do not match their health care needs. Government has regulated away personal buying power.
2. Minnesotans should be allowed to purchase insurance from a nationwide provider base of plans that are price risk adjusted, portable and designed to fit the consumer's need and use of health care. It is not necessary for a 58 year old male to have maternity coverage. If you move or switch jobs, you would not lose your insurance. Purchasing health insurance should be done with tax free income.
3. I oppose any forms of socialized or government-run health care. The government's Medicare system shows the difficulty in cost containment and sustainability to meet health care needs. Seniors still must rely on supplemental insurance to address their needs.
4. Initiatives at the state level providing incentives for Minnesotans to carry long-term care coverage should be enhanced and well publicized for participation. I support HF 4073 that increases the tax credit for long term care insurance. We need to understand the importance of this investment as future users of long term care services.
Back to top
Education
I believe parents should be empowered with more financial decision making tools for their children's education. Family involvement and student achievement are the most important factors in the education of our students. With the state demographic shift to more retirees than school aged children, education must be looked at as life long learning.
1. I support an expansion of tax credits for families to recognize their freedom to direct the education spending for their children.
2. I support knowledge-based rigorous standards that emphasize the education basics of reading, writing, science and math, as we must prepare students for the competition in a global marketplace. These standards should be parameters for local school districts. Ultimately, local schools and their community should decide how to best serve their students in achieving academic success.
3. The federal layer of bureaucracy under the Department of Education has a budget of $69 billion, and funnels $450 million back to Minnesota in the form of partially funded mandates like special education and No Child Left Behind. While sitting on the school board and state accountability committees, I am convinced that our state and local schools know best how to serve their students. The feds are piloting policy ideas like differentiated instruction and growth models to improve student achievement, however, both that have been implemented in our local schools for YEARS.
4. College readiness, tuition rates of Minnesota residents, and increasing the current 58% graduation rate of public 4-year schools must be addressed. I support HF2779 that allows individuals and employers tax credits for contributions to a lifelong learning account program used for higher education expenses.
5. The legislature is constitutionally bound to provide adequate, fair education funding. Simply spending more and more taxpayer dollars will not magically "improve" education programs and results. Conventional education must be replaced with best practices to fund what works. Currently, K-12 education comprises over 40 percent of the state budget. Lawmakers must ensure that taxpayers are getting a valued return for every dollar spent on education. Current funding formulas are complex, antiquated, and unfair because they put metro suburban schools that receive less state aid at a disadvantage and straddle their resident's with higher property tax burdens.
6. I believe education should not be "one size fits all." Parents who choose to home school their children do so to provide them the one on-one attention and rigorous curriculum not always found in a public setting. Other parents do so to provide a faith based, Christian curriculum. As State Representative, I will work with groups such as the Minnesota Association of Christian Home Educators (MACHE) to ensure Minnesota's home school regulations are not overly burdensome or unnecessarily restrictive. Minnesota has among the strongest charter school movements in the nation. Charter schools provide competition to the public system and offer students and parents additional educational options.
Back to top
Transportation
I will advocate for solutions that address the congestion in our district.
1. Transportation basics (roads and bridges) should be funded first to relieve bottlenecks before sinking millions of dollars into rail projects serving very limited geographical areas or as a convenience to visit a casino up north! While the current transportation budget of nearly $5 billion will expand due to the tax increases past by our legislators, the fact is that transit earmarks have taken away revenue for roads and bridges.
2. The Metropolitan Freeway System 2007 Congestion Report by the Department of Transportation indicates increased congestion on the main arteries going through our district: 694 and 35W.
3. In conversations with district residents, the need for bus service between suburban cities has shown some support. Bus lines retain the flexibility for ridership needs and can be adjusted accordingly to serve our community residents.
Back to top
Energy/Environment
Free markets, not government, breed inspiration, innovation, and prosperity. Legislative regulations, mandates, and subsidies stifle our free market economy and individual freedom.
1. The legislature should not impose energy mandates for the benefit of politics and special interests ahead of science. We need to put science before political expediency, as there is not agreement among scientists in the field of climatology and meteorology about the green house theory and the factors of climate change.
2. The cost of basic needs are increasing dramatically, hurting middle and low income families due to politicians mandating environmental agendas. Currently, overstepping political mandates are threatening our freedom and economy by mandating how we live, where we live, what we live in, how we get to where we want to go. Legislators want our carbon footprint to be monitored like our income or credit scores.
3. I believe "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth". It is our responsibility to be conservation stewards of this creation for generations to come. We all want to preserve our natural resources, have clean air and water. We also need energy to heat our homes, cook our food, and fuel our vehicles. The same free market ingenuity that put a computer in every home- and in many pockets- will give us cleaner, cheaper energy solutions.
4. Corn subsidies must end, while the agricultural community has greatly benefited, the impact in cost of goods to the consumer has increased dramatically, just look at your grocery receipt! Ethanol production also has been shown to increase CO2 levels more than the current emissions using another natural resource, oil. The E20 mandate will make many engines obsolete, penalizing Minnesota boat owners.
5. I support the expansion of refineries and domestic access to fuel sources done in a careful, environmentally friendly manner, while we explore alternative sources of energy. Government regulation impedes U.S. expansion of fuel exploration, yet allows China to drill for oil right off our shores. Government regulation has forced our dependency upon high-priced foreign oil and further driven up the price of fuel to consumers by capping the expansion of refineries.
Back to top
Pro-Life
I am a pro-life candidate; we must protect the lives of the unborn. Taxpayers should not foot the bill for abortions.
Back to top
Gun Control
Gun control has never been an effective means to control crime; Washington D.C. is a clear example. I come from a family of hunters and am a strong supporter of the right to keep and bear arms-for self defense, a right protected by the Second Amendment.
Back to top
Immigration
We are the greatest country on earth, affording opportunity, freedom, and prosperity. America was built by immigrants from many lands. Citizenship in the United States requires acceptance of the rule of our laws. I support HF 3605 which requires lawful residency in the U.S. for a Minnesota ID card or driver's license; I support HF4011 which penalizes employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants, I support legal protection for employers who try to obey this law, and I support HF 3605 that prohibits a city to be a "sanctuary city." Unfortunately, our legislature suppressed the vote to penalize cities if they refuse to enforce immigration law.
Back to top
