That’s the wrong question; it should be, what are we going to do to increase job opportunities to well-above pre-recession levels? My short answer is the standard; “Get government out of the way,” but ...
We continue to lose ground in terms of household-sustaining jobs, so now is the perfect time for some bold, and proven steps to change that; because there’s no such thing as a “jobless recovery.”
I’ve proposed completely eliminating any and all tax on personal earnings, or property, and moving to a single tax (of 9.9 percent) on all retail purchases; to be divvied up between all levels of government. This will immediately infuse the economy with activity, forcing local businesses to expand; creating more jobs, and focusing the legislature’s attention on clearing the way for new businesses, and away from people’s private lives.
My proposals also call for a single business tax of 4 percent on the gross receipts, without deduction or offset of any kind — this makes Arizona competitive; as opposed to being one of the highest taxing states. Finally, removing regulations and bureaucratic red tape that currently hinder business will open the floodgates of opportunity. Case in point, last week Los Angeles repealed a law against vending homemade/grown products — and almost instantly created over 1,000 new businesses.
This kind of simple, clear stability will act as a magnet, to draw businesses who want a happy and secure labor force (happy because they are not having their money stolen from their paychecks anymore); a labor force all businesses will be encouraged to train for their specific needs, in schools they run and manage — rather than rely on government schools to foolishly continue to try to prepare every student for every kind of job possible.
It’s not right for politicians to make deals to bribe individual companies to come to Arizona, but I hope to entice at least two huge industries-on-the-rise that I believe will spur enormous economic growth. The first is energy storage (batteries — of all kinds) research and development, because I am certain that smaller, higher capacity energy storage capabilities will have a significant impact on all of our futures. Making energy here in Arizona is easy; the part we want to dominate is saving that energy for later. My second major economic effort will be in attracting entirely new industries, centered around the 30,000 manufacturing uses for commercial hemp.
Better ideas, for a better Arizona.
