I believe our national government should play an important role in strengthening our country's economy. In some cases, Congress's role should be to ease off regulations so the market can work more efficiently; in other cases, government intervention may improve our country's long-term economic outlook. I would like to elaborate on several of our country's most important economic problems and my ideas about how Congress can help solve them.

Problem – Gas prices are too high.

Solution – Congress needs to implement a National Energy Independence Plan. Such a Plan must include smart additional drilling for oil and natural gas, significant increases in alternative energy development, and programs which provide extensive conservation education. Starting today, we need to go after all the domestic energy we can responsibly get, in terms of both fossil fuels and renewable energy sources. At the same time, I believe our long-term goal must be to operate mostly on renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, geothermal, and other sources of power. We need to increase funding for renewable research initiatives such as cellulosic ethanol that can replace our dependence on fossil fuels, lower harmful emissions, and leave intact the international food supply-- which corn-based ethanol does not do.

In contrast to my broad-based approach, my opponent's plan is hopelessly one-dimensional: drill, drill, drill. Despite the impressive growth of our country's budding renewable energy industries, he insists we cannot develop them enough for renewables to matter. Additionally, at a Town Hall meeting in May, he insisted high gas prices were a “bubble”-- but most economists think prices will continue to rise, and my opponent is no economist. We need real solutions, not one-dimensional measures that will keep us permanently dependent on oil.

Problem – Taxes are too high and the tax code is too complicated.

Solution – I believe Congress should solve this problem in two major stages. First, Congress should lower taxes to provide immediate relief for hard-working Americans. Congress should do this by cutting income tax rates, cutting corporate tax rates, and instituting a nominal national sales tax. Replacing some income taxes with a sales tax will give people more choice about when they pay taxes, but the sales tax should stay low so people who spend most of their income still pay less overall. Today's middle class is being squeezed from every direction and needs relief.

After passing tax cuts for immediate relief, Congress should form a commission of nonpartisan economists and tax experts charged with completely re-writing and greatly simplifying our country’s tax code. This may seem like a bold idea, but I believe it is just what our country needs.

You might ask: why rewrite the tax code? I would answer: because the current code is too long (over 66,000 pages!), too hard for taxpayers to follow, too costly for the government to enforce (the IRS operating budget is $11 billion this year), and full of loopholes that are being exploited more and more. Our tax code is beyond saving and needs to be replaced.

You might also ask: why form a commission of economists and tax experts to do the job? I would answer: because taxes are really an economic problem. We ask military experts to solve military problems and we ask scientific experts to solve scientific problems; we should now ask economic experts to solve this major economic problem.

This commission should be charged with writing a tax code that satisfies four major criteria:

1. Our tax code should raise enough revenue for the government to fund programs that provide for our country’s defense, promote freedom and opportunity, and do the other things our government should do. In other words, it should be approximately revenue-neutral with our current tax system.
2. Our tax code should provide the best possible future economic outlook for our country. This means the government should collect revenue in a way that encourages as much economic growth as possible.
3. Our tax code should accomplish criteria 1 and 2 without sacrificing opportunity for Americans of all socio-economic classes. This is a major shortcoming of my opponent’s tax plan.
4. Our tax code should be relatively easy for citizens to follow and inexpensive for the government to enforce.

For decades, our tax code has been pieced together by politicians grappling with the political pressures of their day; the result is a thatched-together, out-of-control code that needs to be replaced. The commission charged with the rewriting will not have the final say over our country’s new tax code, but its recommendations should be seriously considered— and if found to be reasonable, those recommendations should be implemented. A new, simple, and effective tax code will boost our country’s economy, enable taxpayers to spend more of their own time and money as they wish, and enable the national government to spend more of its time and money working to make America better.

In contrast, my opponent supports the "Fair Tax," a plan which calls for a pure consumption tax that would run over 30% on almost all purchased goods and services. His "Fair Tax" is a terrible idea and would actually be extremely unfair for the vast majority of taxpayers. To learn why, please see my website tab on the "Unfair Tax," and please see Jay Bookman's recent editorial on the issue.

Problem – There are too many home foreclosures and home prices are sliding.

Solution – The government needs to help shore up the housing market. This problem has the potential to worsen our economy even more if it continues to go unaddressed. In many cases, unscrupulous lenders preyed upon many people and the government must help keep these homeowners in their homes; in other cases, people made poor choices and the government should not help them. Homeowners should not simply assume that the government will bail them out of trouble, but this is a severe problem and requires some intervention.

Problem – We continue to move high-paying jobs offshore.

Solution – I am generally a free-market proponent. The problem is that other countries have different labor laws and civil rights standards that allow companies to offer the same goods and services our domestic companies offer while incurring lower costs than our domestic companies incur. We must act to level the playing field so our workers are treated fairly. Additionally, national security concerns require that we try to keep our country the preferred place of business for certain industries; for instance, what would be the consequences of losing our aerospace or auto manufacturing industries? I believe we can not afford to lose businesses which keep our military and our civilian infrastructures the most advanced in the world.

Problem – The gap between the rich and the poor is at a multi-generational high.

Solution – Two major developments should help turn this around: education reform and tax reform.

Education is the silver bullet for this and so many other of our nation’s problems. Our efforts to build a “land of opportunity” can succeed only if our public schools give every child the chance to realize his or her potential. By improving educational opportunities, we will level the playing field for Americans of all socio-economic classes and ensure that everyone has opportunities to succeed. Our national government must make it the highest priority to help states improve public education. (Please see the "Education" tab under "Issues" for more details.)

Comprehensive tax reforms will provide a framework for a stronger economy and thereby benefit people from all walks of life. As discussed above, we should solve the problem of too-high taxes and too-complicated regulations in two steps. First, Congress should pass tax breaks for the middle class; additionally, the 2001 Bush tax cuts for those making more than $300,000 a year should now be allowed to expire. When the cuts were passed, John McCain said they favored the rich disproportionately. He was right and that view remains correct. Second, Congress should appoint a committee of nonpartisan economists and tax experts to write a new, better, simpler tax code from scratch. A new code will boost our country’s economy, enable taxpayers to spend more of their own time and money as they wish, and enable the national government to spend more of its time and money working to make America better.