My list of requirements for Governor

We’re hearing lots of speculation now about who might be the Republican candidates for Colorado Governor. It’s really a moot point, because the Democrats passed legislation that would ensure their candidates win. And Hickenlooper signed New York mayor Michael Bloomberg’s citizen (gun) control bills, ensuring that Hick will have more than adequate funding for his campaign, and his fellow democrats in the legislature.

 Nevertheless, there are a few things I’d like to hear from candidates for Colorado governor (I can dream, can’t I?) I'd like a candidate to tell us that he or she will do or attempt the following:

1.     Make it clear that you will use your veto on legislation that expands government, restricts citizen’s freedoms, or further infringes property rights (increases taxes).

2.     Tell the legislature that you will absolutely veto any bill that passes before these bills pass:

a.     Repeal the citizen (gun) control laws that were passed in 2013.

b.     Repeal the GOP sponsored bills from 2012 and 2013 that enable tax discrimination (because Republicans do stupid stuff, too).

c.      Repeal the voter fraud legislation passed in 2013.

d.     Repeal the legislature enacted Renewable Portfolio Standards and return to the standards enacted by citizens.

3.     Require the PUC to set reasonable standards for electric utility emissions, and then require utilities to operate under the least cost that meets those standards.

4.     Push the legislature to end all new tax increment financing (often called economic development, it is a process whereby our tax dollars are given to government favored businesses and industries) at any level of government throughout the state.

5.     Announce to businesses worldwide that the only government-funded incentive to locate in Colorado is that we will never ask taxpayers (or businesses) to fund your competition (see tax increment financing, above.)

6.     Veto any legislation that extends regulatory agencies without first providing a cost-benefit analysis with dynamic scoring. Regulatory agencies sunset periodically and only survive because lawmakers pass legislation to keep them going, usually without determining actual benefits, and without considering what would happen without the agency.

7.     End this silly debate about sales taxes for internet purchases. Internet purchases are already taxable through the consumer use tax – it’s the same tax base and rate.  Every citizen is currently required to report every purchase on which they did not pay sales tax, on their state income tax return. Not just internet sales, it’s on purchases of used goods, too (think garage sales). There is a huge pile of revenue already owed and just waiting to be paid.  All that’s needed is enforcement of the reporting. For a measly $10,000,000 per year, the state could hire an additional 1000 revenue agents to audit Colorado citizens for consumer use taxes. It wouldn’t require a vote of the people, just a budgetary adjustment. The revenue generated would far exceed the cost to collect it. And the uproar from citizens who have escaped this tax for years would be deafening.

The best way to reform our tax system and reduce excessive state spending is to wake citizens up and make more of them participate in the funding of government. Legislators on either side of the aisle are not going to ease the burden on taxpayers until there is a cry from a large majority of constituents to do so.

8.     In the event that state revenue recovers and exceeds TABOR limits, veto any bill that proposes retention of the excess revenue, or does not refund it to taxpayers in proportion to the amount they paid.  (For those who complain that TABOR limits government revenues, remember that TABOR limits have not been reached for years – it is taxpayer’s ability and willingness to pay that limits revenues.)

9.     Urge the legislature to move elections for the Colorado legislature to April 15, tax day. The additional cost for another election will likely be recaptured when people start voting in a way that will reduce the check they write on the same day.

10. Veto any additional funding for Fastracks. If the system can’t survive on the taxes we are already paying plus passenger fees, it can be relocated. Put it somewhere near United Airlines’ automated baggage handling system at DIA.

11. Ask the legislature to pass a resolution urging the federal government to pass the Red Card Solution (RedCardSolution.com) to start fixing our broken immigration system.

Well, that’s a rough start, off the top of my head. And as I said, it’s probably moo.  I can’t imagine who might have a chance to defeat the election laws and Bloomberg’s money. 

The Myth of Comprehensive Immigration Reform

There is no such thing as comprehensive immigration reform. There never will be.

The immigration system is vast and complicated with lots of parts. To reform it in a comprehensive manner is a large undertaking that would require agreement from many disparate factions.

Here are some dirty little secrets about immigration:

o   Democrats won’t solve the problem. To do so would rob them of an opportunity to pound Republicans. An unsolved problem is an ongoing opportunity.

o   Republicans misunderstand the economics of the situation. This country depends on illegal immigration. Without the illegal labor force, many jobs would go unfilled. It is true that Americans won’t take certain jobs, and those jobs are vital to the prosperity of this nation.

o   We need border security, but without a functional guest worker program, border security makes the illegal immigration problem worse. Once here, illegal workers are not inclined to return home because a secure border means they may not be able to come back. A low wage Mexican worker could take six months of U.S. wages, return to Mexico, and enjoy an upper middle class lifestyle, except for the fear of not being able to come back when the money runs out.

o   The largest failure of our immigration system, the one that leads to many of the other failures, is the lack of a viable guest worker program. This is the root cause, the reason we have so many illegal aliens, the reason border security is difficult, why illegals contribute insufficiently to our tax base while using taxpayer-funded resources.

Immigration reform should first focus on solving the guest worker problem. Otherwise, we will find ourselves in the same predicament in 20 years, with another 15 million illegals here calling for another round of amnesty.

There are proposals being bandied about to improve the guest worker program. They generally go something like this: Bureaucrats will gather information from businesses about the kind and number of workers they need. That information gets funneled through bureaucrats to a centralized immigration authority. That authority will determine how many guest workers are allowed, qualifications, which businesses get them, how long they stay, etc. This bureaucratic mess cannot respond to the needs of businesses in a timely manner. Businesses that can’t get the legal workers they need will find illegal workers, and we’re back to square one.

What’s needed is a need-driven, choice-based, secured-border guest worker program.

A viable guest program must be able to meet the needs of businesses and job seekers. History has shown that centralized planning fails. Only a voluntary system of contract can meet the needs of society. Yes, I’m talking about capitalism. Therein lies the answer to the guest worker problem. Meet the Red Card Solution (RCS.)

The Red Card Solution authorizes the Feds to certify and regulate employment agencies outside of our borders. They establish and enforce criteria for background checks, and develop standards for biometrically secure identification cards. The cards let alien workers cross the border legally and easily, as long as they have been matched with a job in the US.

Employers will voluntarily use RCS if the ease of use outweighs the risk of being illegal, if their competitors are also more likely to comply, and if they can quickly meet their labor needs. Enforcement is an important part of the Red Card Solution, but enforcement is easier when more workers and businesses voluntarily go through legal channels.

Foreign workers will voluntarily use the RCS rather than face the many risks of crossing borders illegally. As more employers use the system, the illegal jobs will dry up, further reducing the incentive to cross illegally.

Illegal aliens become legal guest workers, subject to the same work rules and taxation as citizen workers. The underground illegal workforce becomes, instead, a visible, taxpaying workforce that contributes more to our economy than it consumes in government services.

When guest workers are subject to the same rules as citizen workers, the cost advantage for hiring foreign workers disappears. And because the employment agency will charge a fee for arranging the foreign work contract, employers will first offer the jobs to citizen workers.

As the number of illegal crossings decreases, more resources become available to truly secure the border and focus our attention on those aliens who would do us harm.

Government solutions to the immigration problem have only resulted in more government and greater problems. As Milton Friedman said, “The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market.” The Red Card Solution is a free market system of voluntary cooperation. To learn more, go to RedCardSolution.com

Vande Krol’s Three Point Plan for Job Growth

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?

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[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