 57th Assembly DistrictIncludes most of the city of Appleton and portions of Little ChutePenny Bernard Schaber - Democrat Candidate Jo Egelhoff - Republican did not respond.
Question 1: Economic development professional have long identified regulatory burdens as one of the challenges to attracting and retaining businesses in Wisconsin. In just the past few years, several thousand paper and other manufacturing jobs have left northeast Wisconsin for other states and other countries. What can the legislature do to make Wisconsin a more attractive place to do business, create jobs, and generate tax revenue for local government?
Bernard Schaber: The legislature can do the following things to make Wisconsin an attractive place for businesses:
Ease some of the current regulations that make it difficult for communities to combine shared or duplicated services. One example is the Neenah & Menasha fire department. They have combined departments, which increases the services for the cities while saving money in the budget of both communities. The state legislature can lessen the regulations that stand in the way of municipalities working together in a cost saving ways.
Give incentives to companies who convert previously productive yet currently closed mills or other buildings into new working factories or other places of business. These new factories can become the manufacturers of the future.
Give incentives for business who are working on new technologies that will bring new high paying jobs to Wisconsin. The new jobs and technologies can support energy conservation and renewable energies helping to decrease our dependence on foreign oil.
Question 2: More than ever before, local government officials are facing the dilemma of cutting jobs and services while still remaining under revenue caps. In recent years, state legislators have proposed various local government spending and taxing measures intended to hold down property taxes, including both the so-called Taxpayers Bill of Rights and the Taxpayer Protection Amendment. As this crisis continues to become problematic, how should the legislature address local government taxing initiatives?
Bernard Schaber: Responsible State Budgets include spending priorities and spending cuts where possible. Bills like TABOR allow the legislature to ignore their responsibilities with arbitrary formulas that cannot be easily reversed. In Colorado, the birthplace of TABOR, that law has backfired. We don’t need something like that here. What we need is to continue the conversation between State and Local governments so that both sides are fair to the taxpayers while protecting essential local services.
We do need to consider a complete overhaul of the tax system. Here are ten criteria that are recommended by the American Institute of Public accountants as a guide understanding tax reform:
Simplicity. The tax law should be simple, allowing ease of compliance.
Fairness. Similarly situated taxpayers pay similar taxes.
Economic Growth and Efficiency. The tax system should not impede or reduce the
productive capacity of the economy.
Neutrality. The effect of the tax law on a taxpayer’s financial decisions should be kept to a minimum.
Transparency. Taxpayers should know that a tax exists and know the taxes’ impacts.
Minimizing Noncompliance. Taxes should be structured to minimize noncompliance.
Cost-Effective Collection. Tax collection costs should be kept to a minimum.
Impact on Government Revenues. Government should be able to easily and accurately determine the amount of revenue to be collected.
Certainty. The tax rules should clearly specify when and how the tax is to be paid and how the amount to be paid is to be determined.
Payment Convenience. A tax should be due at a time or in a manner that is convenient for the taxpayer.
Question 3: In recent years, statewide health care initiatives such as Healthy Wisconsin have expanded the debate about the role government should take toward insuring and taking care of the health of our residents. What role do you believe the legislature has in making health care more affordable and accessible to Wisconsin residents?
Bernard Schaber: I think the legislature needs to do everything they can to make health care more affordable and accessible to families. There is also a moral responsibility that the legislature has to the families of our state – everyone pays more when people go without health insurance. I would like to look into the idea of health care pools to reduce costs and reward personal health improvement. The state can develop programs to help small businesses or the self employed offer affordable health care to their employees so they can compete with big business for the best workers.
Question 4: Wisconsin and the nation as a whole are on the front end of an energy crisis prompted by high fuel prices and a number of aged and outdated energy generation and petroleum processing facilities operating near capacity. What can the legislature do to further promote energy efficiency and to encourage additional, cleaner energy production?
Bernard Schaber: We should provide incentives to businesses that are on the cutting edge of new energy and manufacturing technologies so that these improved products will be made in our in our communities. Then we must take the next step and increase and promote their use throughout the state.
We can encourage communities to consider more efficient and alternative fuel vehicles in their vehicle replacement programs.
We need to set standards for appliance efficiency and for car emission and fuel economy standards that show we are serious about conserving energy and decreasing pollution.
We must work to promote energy conservation through retro fitting of older buildings and building new buildings in energy conscious and sustainable ways, including energy and water conservation goals in the building plans and community development plans. Community development plans should include opportunities to safely use transportation methods that are not as dependent on cars as we are right now.
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