A Quiz For The Candidates

Fish or Cut Bait
by
John McClaughry

Almost every candidate running for the legislature is urgently promising to work - or better yet, fight - for or against a list of causes framed to win the support of the maximum number of voters. Thus we have candidates from every point on the spectrum vowing to fight for more jobs, more affordable housing, better roads, and lower tax rates (for you), or the Sanderista favorite, higher tax rates on "the wealthy". How they expect to achieve these wonders is rarely discussed.

So let's force the candidates to fish or cut bait. Here are ten pointed questions that will put candidates on the spot.

1. With the national economy reeling, the next state budget year is likely to be a rough one. If next April there is a shortfall between the state's projected expenditures and its projected revenues, will you vote to reduce expenditures, raise tax rates, or borrow money to pay the bills? Or some of each?

2. The Vermont income tax now has a top bracket of 9.5%, applied on taxable incomes in excess of $336,550. To what level would you consider increasing that rate to raise more revenues from the wealthy?

3. Starting next year taxpayers in above-average education spending districts will be asked to vote twice on school spending, once on a budget no greater than the Maximum Inflation Amount (previous year's budget multiplied by inflation plus one percent), and once more on any excess over that amount. Do you favor letting this law work? Expanding it to cover all districts? Or repealing it, as recommended by the Vermont-NEA teachers union?

4. The 2009 legislature will vote on whether to permit the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant to continue to operate after 2012. Assuming the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission approves a license extension beyond 2012, and the Public Service Board certifies that the plant's continued operation serves the public good, will you vote to allow Vermont Yankee to continue generating electricity? Or will you vote to close it, regardless of the cost and sources of the power needed to replace it?

5. Will you vote for or against a proposal to create a 50-foot "riparian buffer zone" along waterways flowing through private property?

6. Will you vote for or against a  "card check" law, allowing labor unions to gain certification by collecting employee cards signed in public, instead of by employee secret ballot as now required?

7. For years some legislators have proposed that the government institute a single payer universal access health care system, where private health insurance and premiums are abolished, all Vermonters are entitled to the benefits of a government-designed taxpayer-financed health insurance plan, and the state compensates all health care providers out of such tax dollars as may be available for that purpose. Would such a system have your support? If so, which tax or taxes would you vote to raise to finance it?

8. To combat the menace of global warming, the 2006 legislature committed to requiring Vermonters to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide to 50% below the level prevailing in 1990, by the year 2028. Will you vote to authorize the regulations and taxes necessary to achieve this very large reduction?

9. The legislature has given the Public Service Board the unlimited power to levy "efficiency assessments" on your electric bill. It has given the Milk Commission unlimited power to levy "assessments" on fluid milk sold in Vermont stores. Will you vote to require that only the legislature, accountable to the people, can raise taxes on the people?

10. Would you vote to return the $28 million in motor vehicle purchase and use tax revenues from the Education Fund to the Transportation Fund for highway and bridge maintenance? If not, would you vote to increase the present 20 cents per gallon gasoline tax to 25 cents for that purpose?

Clear answers to questions such as these will give informed voters a far better idea of what to expect from legislators than the self-serving and evasive promises that too many of them emit during campaign season.

                                                                  

John McClaughry is President of the Ethan Allen Institute

Comments

[G. Cross]

The subtitle, "Fish or Cut Bait", had me all excited. For a second there, I thought maybe John was going to provide instructions on how to bait a hook. We all know who needs that lesson.

[GreggB]

The three of them are lefties. Expecting different behavior from them is as insane as them thinking that VT's economy is going to turn for the better with high taxes and regulation.

[Planman]

G. Cross,
Some of us are new to this newsletter and the ongoing exchanges between frequent contributors. Would you please explain your comments concerning John's list of questions. I thought the list was good and I'm mailing a copy to each of the legislators in Bennington County. I enjoy your point of view and your comments about the topics being discussed in the Tiger, so I'm curious about your take on this.

retirement boring the hell out of you still Mr Cross?

[G. Cross]

Hey, I have never had my photo in the news showing someone else baiting my hook. In fact, the only one I have ever seen over all these long years is the one of the Commissioner of Fish and Wildlife baiting Jim Douglas' hook. Just a tad bit of humor, folks. Come on, this site is not all serious!