With the November elections approaching, corporate welfare and crony capitalism have emerged as major campaign issues.
In Michigan, Republican state legislative candidate Steve Boron is making occupational licensing a feature of his campaign. (RELATED: Study: Occupational Licensing Burdens Low-Income Workers, Entrepreneurs)
Boron, who owns a business that installs solar panels, told Home Town Life that licensing requirements discourage entrepreneurs from starting new businesses. Boron said that, “I had to get a master electrician license and a builder’s license,” in order to install solar panels on the roofs of buildings. “Why do you need a builder’s license to add something to the roof?” he asked.
Chris Colvin is running for the Montana House of Representatives as a Libertarian. In an interview with the Missoulian on Monday, Colvin said he is opposed to the transfer of federal lands to the state, because he fears that state lawmakers would be less adept at protecting the quality of the environment.
Although he supports “more local decision making” for existing state lands, Colvin warned that taking over management of federal lands would invite an onslaught of lobbyists, because “industry knows it’s cheaper and easier to corrupt Montana politicians than U.S. ones.”
Larry Pressler, who is running for the U.S. Senate as an independent in South Dakota, has made shrinking the national debt one of his main issues, according to the Argus Leader.
In order to reduce the debt, he said, “We have to stop voting for so much corporate welfare and we have to have some revenue enhancement,” though not from raising taxes on the middle class or the poor. (RELATED: Fighting Cronyism Brings People Together)
“Money is going to come from eliminating certain corporate deductions, eliminating certain other deductions such as mortgage on a second home, from some increases in taxes on the very wealthy,” he concluded.
Pressler previously served in the Senate for three terms as a Republican, before losing a reelection bid in 1996.
And in the race for governor of Connecticut, CBS3 Springfield reports that “tax credits worth hundreds of millions of dollars for Connecticut’s largest private employer have emerged as a flash point.” (RELATED: NFL Exploits ‘Religious-Like Following’ to Secure Favors from Government)
The incumbent governor, Democrat Dannel Malloy, says the credits “are crucial to keep United Technologies Corp. jobs from leaving the state.” Republican challenger Tom Foley, however, “criticizes [the credits] as corporate welfare… [and] argues instead on job-creation incentives for small businesses.”
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