The number one priority of voters all across Colorado, and especially
here in House District 35 is jobs. However,
to improve Colorado’s economy, to help families, and to properly fund our
government, we need to be concerned about private
sector jobs.
Government
jobs and programs can be funded only by tax dollars. Taking tax dollars to
create jobs only funnels money through inefficient government and redistributes
it to politically favored businesses. Because of the inefficiency of the tax
system, many of those tax dollars are wasted on unproductive activities.
Research indicates that it costs as much as $65 in overhead and waste to bring
in $100 in federal tax revenue[1].
There is no reason to believe that Colorado’s taxing system is more efficient.
Using tax dollars to create jobs is like taking water out of the deep end of
the pool to fill the shallow end, and losing most of the water in the process.
The end result is less water in the pool, less money in the private sector to
create jobs.
Simply put, everything we expect from our government is possible
only through taxing the private sector. More people working means more tax
revenue. Tax policy should be designed to maximize revenue to the government
while minimizing harm to the private sector. It should not be designed to make
political investments in favored sectors. Government has a notoriously bad
history when it comes to investing our tax dollars on business ventures.
We can have job growth here, but not by resorting to more
government intervention. Job growth will happen when government gets out of the
way and allows more people to pursue their dreams. I have a simple three-point
plan that will enable more people to create small businesses and employ more people.
1.
Accountable Legislation
First, we need to better evaluate the effect of new laws. In
Colorado, well over 300 bills become law each year. Many of them have adverse
impacts on businesses and therefore on job creation. The businesses that will
be affected by these new laws are sometimes not even aware of the impending
damage. Governor Hickenlooper suggested that we have a “Business Impact
Statement” for each new bill[2].
I agree. Let’s make that happen.
Legislative Council would designate a “waiting period” for each
bill, and collect public comments about the impact of the bill. Thereafter,
Council would issue a Business Impact Statement so that legislators would be
better able to weigh the costs and benefits of each new proposed law.
2. Accountable Regulation
Regulations
are an important part of civilized society. However, if the rules keep
changing, or become so complex that they can’t be navigated without legal help,
they become a barrier for small businesses that many cannot overcome. Colorado
government agencies publish an average of over 15,000 pages of new regulations
each year[3].
That’s on top of existing regulations.
We need to re-evaluate each government regulatory agency to
determine if they actually provide any benefit to the public, and weigh that benefit
against the cost. Further, re-evaluate the businesses and activities that fall
under the jurisdiction of each agency. Some industries are better able to
police themselves outside of government interference. Consumers are often
better judges of a business than government. Reducing the power, scope, and
quantity of regulating agencies will reduce costs for taxpayers and consumers,
and lessen the barriers to entry for many would-be business owners.
3. Reigning in the Colorado Department of Labor
Give more choice to Colorado workers by strengthening the legal
definition of “independent contractor.” The Colorado Department of Labor (CDL) has
directly threatened the livelihoods of 1 in 7 Colorado workers that it believes
are “misclassified employees.”[4]
That’s 14% of working Coloradans! These workers chose to be business owners
instead of employees, but the state is harassing and extorting the businesses
they contract with, simply because the state is trying to find some way to make
up for nearly $600 million it borrowed to pay unemployment benefits after the benefits
trust fund became insolvent[5].
Current Colorado law lists a set of nine criteria for independent
contractors. To qualify as an independent contractor, you have to meet the
preponderance of these qualifications by evidence. Bureaucrats and auditors in
the CDL have taken it upon themselves to interpret these qualifications in an
arbitrary and severe manner.
By liberalizing the definition of independent contractor, the
legislature can make more opportunities available for start-up businesses, and
remove the threats to 14% of Colorado workers and the businesses with which
they contract, which means more jobs!
Vande Krol’s Plan – More jobs, less government
Colorado is a land of opportunities. These three actions, each one
limiting government, will allow more people to turn their ideas into opportunities
and create businesses and jobs.
My Opponent’s Plan
My opponent has a five-point plan for job growth[6].
With the exception of the fifth point, they all require more government. All
five points have serious flaws.
Her first four schemes involve more government spending, more
bureaucracy, more gifts to politically favored big industries and big
businesses, more risky investments with taxpayer dollars, more government
replacement of private sector, and more top-down government control of classrooms.
The fifth plank in her plan calls for common sense. But after
studying her legacy of higher taxes, regulations, cronyism, bureaucratization,
and failure to recognize priorities, you have to ask, “where was her common
sense for the previous years?”
You can learn more about the inadequacies of her plan at
brianvandekrol.blogspot.com.
A Clear Choice
Jobs are created when a free society works to further individual
interests. Government’s role is to protect individual rights. When government
spends taxpayer dollars on ill-advised schemes, individual rights are eroded
and jobs are lost.
You have a choice to make: do
you want less government and more jobs, or more government and fewer jobs?
[1]
James L. Payne, Six Political Illusions (Sandpoint, ID: Lytton
Publishing Company, 2010) p. 60.
[2] http://www.cpr.org/article/Hickenlooper_Delivers_State_of_the_State
[3] http://www.leg.state.co.us/clics/clics2012a/commsumm.nsf/b4a3962433b52fa787256e5f00670a71/ebb72621d52ddd1d872579970072aa44/$FILE/120201%20AttachD.pdf
[4] http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_19477193
[5] http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_20993933/colorado-sells-bonds-restock-unemployment-insurance-fund
[6]
Peniston mailer, September, 2012
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