The
"Small Business Bandwagon" a popular place at election time
(Editor’s note: The Midcoast Review was unsuccessful in its
efforts to elicit Democratic commentary on the subject of its “Small
Business Bill of Rights” and accompanying “Action
Plan”, despite several requests to party leadership and individual
candidates.)
Voters can tell that Election Day is approaching because Democrats
in the legislature have suddenly developed an interest in small business.
How else to explain Democrat Majority Leader John Richardson releasing
a small business “Bill of Rights” a couple of weeks ago,
accompanied by an “Action Plan” to “promote small business
and entrepreneurship.”
A term in the legislature with these people has made it clear to me that
the most effective “action” business owners can take this fall would
be to vote Richardson and his ilk out of power. Still, for interest’s
sake, it is worth momentarily giving the Democrats the benefit of the doubt
and take a look at what they think we ought to do for small business in Maine.
To begin, the Democrats claim that they wish to “contain costs, reduce
paperwork, and streamline the regulatory process.” That they have worked
diligently each year to instead over-regulate small business and drive its
costs ever higher appears unmentioned. In a notable bit of selective memory,
their plan to cut costs begins with “Reducing the Cost of Workers’ Compensation,” something
the Democrats have worked actively against every year. One need only remember
their position in response to the law court’s “Kotch” decision
on Workers’ Compensation a couple of years back, which would have cost
small business tens of millions had it prevailed, to know how incongruous this
promise is with what the majority party has worked so hard to do.
The Democrat plan continues by outlining what they feel to be the proper level
of state involvement in small business, which is that we need more of it. More
funding and grant programs with numerous strings attached, more state employees
to “work with the private sector” on this and that, more “targeted
business assistance,” whatever that is. In keeping with the general Democrat
party philosophy that the solution to every problem is more government, they
promise to inflict on business owners still more well-intentioned but costly
state programs that do little to help them.
The last part of the Democrat plan involves, not surprisingly, spending money.
It is here that there are calls for more money for “entrepreneurial curriculum” at
the state’s higher education institutions, more “investment” in “job-creation” and
more spending to “build a culture of entrepreneurship.” How we
are to measure the results of all this spending, or from where the money to
pay for it is to come, or how it is that we are to ensure that our entrepreneurially-trained
young people don’t simply take that training to a more business-friendly
state all go without mention.
Also getting little mention in all this is taxes. The document includes, for
instance, a vague promise to “create a stable and predictable tax environment.” I
have no idea what that phrase means, though experience dictates that the only
thing “predictable” about taxes is that they will go up as long
as the Democrats are in power.
So in the end, to what are small businesses in Maine entitled, according to
Rep. Richardson? It looks to me like more government, more spending and more
taxes, hardly anything new for the party in power.
To be fair, there are a few welcome steps here, and it is heartwarming that
the Democrats appear now to realize that if all the taxes they love are to
be paid, someone somewhere has to create jobs and pay people.
The problem is that such lofty promises of relief come from a party that has
been unrelenting in its hostility toward business. If any doubt of this exists,
one should go to www.fixmaine.com and read the report of the Maine Economic
Research Institute, a non-partisan analysis firm which has surveyed the business-issue
voting record of state legislators for a number of years. The research they’ve
done proves that Democrats are inclined to vote overwhelmingly against the
interests of business, no matter how much they’d like folks to believe
otherwise. Rep. Richardson’s own MERI rating, a 23 out of 100, is well
into MERI’s “very weak support of business” range, but still
relatively high for his party. Ben Dudley of Portland, the Democrat running
against Richardson for leadership of the party in the House, has a rating of
11 out of 100.
And what of Republicans? Our MERI ratings are excellent (mine is a 91) and
our plan is simple. Control spending with a constitutional amendment, cut taxes,
roll back onerous regulations, (beginning with the recent sales and service
provider tax changes), conform to the federal tax code to simplify paperwork,
and most importantly, bring a new attitude to Augusta that is one of genuine
interest in making Maine work for businesses.
For me, it is that last piece, the attitude piece, which is most crucial. The
Democrats can talk all they want about small businesses being the “backbone
of Maine’s economy,” but nothing much will change until leadership
is in place in Augusta that really believes it.
Democrats in the legislature voted last session to hire 31 additional revenue
agents and tax examiners. They argued that these positions were “revenue
generators” that would more than pay for themselves by squeezing their
salaries and more out of Maine’s people and businesses. This is pro-business?
Because of tax code changes supported by Democrats last session, the corner
store that sells pizzas and rents videos must now charge two different levels
of sales tax (one for regular taxable goods and one for prepared food) and
a service provider tax to rent videos which must be recorded separately. Manufacturers
of cash registers, who foolishly thought one or two “taxable sale” buttons
would be enough, have never seen what it is like to do business in Maine.
And these people would have us believe that they support businesses in Maine?
Ironically, Rep. Richardson has already done Maine businesses more of a service
than he knows. By drawing election-year attention to small businesses, he will
encourage voters to think about how well their legislator is doing with regard
to business issues. Thanks to groups like MERI, voters will have clear evidence
to use, and let’s hope they exercise their “rights,” take “action,” and
vote accordingly.
Stephen L. Bowen is running for a second term in the Maine Legislature from
District 46, Camden/Rockport. Reach him at <RepStephen.Bowen
@legislature.maine.gov>.
Republican Legislators draft response to Democrat plan