Q: Now that the financial bailout is finalized, what is your take on what transpired and what do you expect the outcome to be? Will there be any specific implications for local businesses?
Brian Baird, D-Vancouver
Candidate for: U.S. Representative, 3rd Congressional District
"In the face of a crisis rivaling the Depression, Congress had to act promptly, but the blank check the President sought was unacceptable. I worked to ensure the final legislation included strong regulatory reforms, protections for average homeowners, and most importantly, measures to ensure that the financial industry, not the taxpaying public, will foot the bill.
This is not the end of the process and we must do much more to restore our economy. We need a comprehensive approach that includes restoring the availability of capital, containing the costs of health care, controlling energy costs, improving our education and workforce training, strengthening our infrastructure, simplifying the tax code, regulatory reform and streamlining the permitting process.
More immediately, my success in restoring deductibility of sales tax will again save Washington taxpayers $430 million each year. Now we need to pass an economic stimulus package focusing on job creation and infrastructure investments."
Michael Delavar, R-Washougal
Candidate for: U.S. Representative, 3rd Congressional District
"It is very sad that Congress could only pass this toxic bailout with the bribes of special pet projects attached to it. This illustrates just how much opposition was given by the American people. Congress does not have the authority to bail out these toxic debts.
The underlying cause of the crisis was the encouragement of risky investments by Congress and the Federal Reserve. This led to moral hazard or mal-investment. To compound things, the Securities and Exchange Commission then allowed for investment institutions to package these bad debts into securities that then had the veneer of respectability.
Now that the housing market is softening, this chain of events is affecting the broader market. However, we must ask whether all investments will go up in price all of the time. Of course not. So, why in a case like this does it become the taxpayer's burden to the tune of more than $2,000 for every man, woman and child to take on that risk?
The obvious answer is that it should not be the burden of all Americans to bear this risk. The final outcome of the bailout will be further burdening of Americans with debt that we cannot pay, questionable benefit to the stock market, and potentially, not enough of a dent in the troubled bad debt. If the housing market continues to weaken, the bailout may prove to have been too little too late of the wrong medicine to make any difference.
The market correction should happen without price-fixing or intervention by the federal government. It will very likely be ugly, but we can weather it through if we strengthen our monetary policy and cut unnecessary spending.
Locally, we will likely see many businesses suffer, especially any businesses that are dependent upon a credit-driven economy. This effect will trickle down, but the real damage will come if there is any attempt by Congress at price-fixing.
Also, it is very likely that the building, contracting, real estate and related industries will have a downturn in business. Those with the strongest fundamentals will survive. With the specter of higher interest rates on the horizon, spending habits of consumers will change significantly.
Just a few days ago, I stopped at a rest area along Interstate 5. Nearly all of the parking stalls were filled with cars. People were sleeping in their cars rather than going to a hotel. If this is indicative of a trend, we are just on the leading edge of a major market correction that is going to be painful.
My goal in Congress is to lessen the pain by reducing unnecessary spending of the federal government. Do we really need to be giving away foreign aid and nation building abroad when our economy is on the brink of collapse? If we return to sound money, work to end inflation and stop nation-building abroad, our economy can once again rebound, but this time with real wealth not just the illusion of it.
Q: If elected, what is the most significant business issue you expect to face in Olympia and what do you plan to do about it?
Tom Langston, R-Vancouver
Candidate for: State Senate, 49th District
"As a small business owner, I understand the inhibitory costs of doing business in the state of Washington. With Clark County unemployment at 8.2 percent, the biggest concern of employee and employer alike is their bottom line.
It was not Wall Street that forced Vancouver's Main Street Bakery to recently close its doors. Washington State has the third highest small business failure rate in America.
I propose three ideas as a start to get us back on the right track:
1. Allow private insurers to compete to fill the needs of Washington state businesses. Competition would provide sorely lacking options and hold the current compulsory system accountable for seemingly ever-increasing cost.
2. Level the playing field for properly licensed businesses. I support the enforcement of state and local immigration law and I-409, which would curb the ability of unlicensed contractors to take jobs of legal businesses and help to insure liability coverage of all Washington workers.
3. Oppose tax increases. Washington State's gas tax is one of the highest in the nation. We are the only state in America with a full gross receipt business and occupation tax requiring businesses to pay tax on materials regardless if they have realized a profit. The death tax and the possibility of an income tax are keeping business out of our state.
Washington businesses are already past their tax saturation point. I will stand in firm opposition to an income tax and will work to reduce or eliminate the B&O tax and eliminate the death tax.
With the state facing a possible budget deficit upward of $3 billion, now more than ever Washington businesses need an advocate in state government. They need more choices and opportunities for success. They need someone who knows what it's like to run a business.
Craig Pridemore, D-Vancouver
Candidate for: State Senate, 49th District
"The international credit squeeze brought about by a lack of enforcement of financial regulations over the past 10 years. We constantly hear about how removing regulations will be beneficial for business because businesses will always do the right thing but … that isn't the reality.
I hope we won't see a lot of naive efforts to eliminate this federal failure with state regulations and one part of our agenda has to be to push back on those efforts.
With a large deficit projected for Washington's 2009-2011 biennium, there will undoubtedly be a lot of pressure to increase taxes. I hope we will continue to block efforts to increase the B&O tax. It is an incredibly punitive tax for small and start-up businesses and we should reduce or eliminate it and transition to a fairer system. As vice chair for the Senate Operating Budget, I'm hopeful that we can make some progress on that direction."
Jim Jacks, D-Vancouver
Candidate for: State Representative, 49th District, Position 1
"The most significant business issue facing Washington state is, in a nutshell, profitability. There's a lot of people wanting to stay in business but, given the state of the national economy, it is difficult. It's important for people to realize that government doesn't create jobs, but it can be helpful in creating a business-friendly climate.
In particular, I am interested in exploring tax incentives to small businesses. Historically, small businesses are the largest engine of job growth and innovation. I don't think the B&O tax works very well for small business, because it is based on gross receipts.
I think Washington should implement tax increment financing. It makes a lot of sense, and I believe every other state has it except us – which puts Washington businesses at a competitive disadvantage.
And while our current government officials have made a lot of progress in the area of workforce education, especially with respect to Clark College and WSUV, we can't stop there, but must continue to support our colleges and universities in their effort to provide Washington businesses with the best workforce possible.
Finally, I'm interested in finding ways to assist businesses become more energy efficient."
Mike Bomar, I-Vancouver
Candidate for: State Representative, 49th District, Position 2
"Businesses, especially small businesses, face many challenges in this state, but the most significant is the B&O tax. Taxing businesses on gross receipts is unfair because of the impact it has on businesses with high volume and a low profit margin.
This tax also taxes the same product at multiple levels of production. Only vertically integrated large companies can avoid being taxed multiple times. This helps explain why Washington has the one of the highest small business failure rates in the nation.
I will work hard to eliminate this tax and replace it with either a tax that is fair to all businesses or at least expand the exemption for new and small businesses. My philosophy is that taxpayers should be able to see just how much they're really paying in taxes. Taxes on business tend to cloak themselves in the form of higher prices to consumers.
Other major issues facing small businesses that need to be addressed in the next session are the rising cost of health care for employees, climate change as it relates to business, transportation, family leave and unemployment insurance."
Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver
Candidate for: State Representative, 49th District, Position 2
"I believe the most significant business issue facing the state is the current credit crisis. There is a real possibility that local and statewide businesses' ability to conduct day-to-day business without short-term credit will become extremely daunting.
Auto dealers and other big ticket retailers are finding it challenging to get credit for their customers. Credit is less available for local entrepreneurs, especially start-ups, which are so vital to job creation.
Jobs are made locally and good public policy plays a long-term hand. I will advocate for the investments by the state that will promote business and the local economy. Washington State University Vancouver's expansion to a four-year university means we can now offer a better educated workforce and are a more attractive site for business location.
The gas tax package pays for critical improvements, directly creates jobs and makes more of the county attractive for development. Accountable and verifiable tax incentives have kept local high-tech jobs here in Vancouver like (at) SEH America, preventing layoffs and losing our manufacturing base.
Calming health care insurance costs and doing what we can locally to promote financial market competition are priorities."
Don Benton, R-Vancouver
Candidate for: State Senate, District 17
"I expect there will several attempts to raise business taxes and to force more regulatory mandates on small businesses. I will, of course, actively fight to stop these attempts and oppose such legislation."
David Carrier, D-Vancouver
Candidate for: State Senate, District 17
"A month ago, I would have said infrastructure development (was most important), with the I-5 bridge, the expansion of the Port of Vancouver and the rail development associated with that. Right now there's a huge rail bottleneck at the port.
Now with the mortgage meltdown, I'd give (that) equal weight. We need to do something immediately to rescue homeowners. They're in danger of losing their homes, facing foreclosure and bankruptcy. We need to provide the opportunity for homeowners to convert adjustable rate mortgages into fixed rate mortgages at low interest rates.
And for people that are facing foreclosure or who have already lost their homes, the state government could offer conversion to a community land trust, which would reduce the price of the home by 30 percent to 40 percent and make it permanently affordable for future generations."
Joseph James, R-Vancouver
Candidate for: State Representative, District 17, Position 1
"The biggest problem is businesses have to pay excessive taxes. My solution is that I will exempt the first $50,000 of B&O taxes on any business, whether it is a sole proprietor or an LLC. I've also taken the no-new-tax pledge, which means I will not vote to raise any new taxes while I'm in Olympia."
Tim Probst, D-Vancouver
Candidate for: State Representative, District 17, Position 1
"I think the most significant issue facing businesses today is the tightening of the credit market. I advocated in the VBJ more than a year ago against the debt-and-spend mentality that I believe has gotten us to this point. We need to get away from the idea that we can spend ourselves into a healthy economy by going deeper and deeper into debt. You will pay the piper when you follow that approach….I think that we create wealth in our society by having highly skilled, highly educated, hard-working people.
So I would focus on expanding capacity for targeted industries, such as health care and alternative energy, for job training and for education."
Micheline Doan, R-Vancouver
Candidate for: State Representative, District 17, Position 2
"One issue is the new I-5 bridge. The other is that we have not really created a business friendly environment in Clark County. I think taxes, especially in these hard times, are going to hurt businesses. That's especially the case in Clark County, considering that the majority of businesses (here) are small businesses.
I will not vote to raise taxes in this economy because I'd like to see businesses grow. I think if we have bridge tolls, it's going to isolate us from Portland, which is again going to create an environment that will not promote business. If we create a business friendly environment (it) will mean that less people have to cross the bridge to go to work."
Deb Wallace, D-Vancouver
Candidate for: State Representative, District 17, Position 2
"Beyond rebalancing the state budget, which will impact everyone including business, my key issue is ensuring the business community in Washington has an adequate supply of skilled employees. As chair of the House Higher Education committee I am working an active agenda to provide more students of all ages the opportunity to increase their job skills.
(That includes efforts) to maintain the increased student enrollments the Legislature added in the last two years. To provide increased financial aid opportunities by streamlining the financial aid process and to refocus the work study program to include more private industry employers who wish to participate.
To refine and improve the Running Start program to make it more career pathway-oriented. To adopt policies to increase accountability and transparency of our college and university system."
VaNessa Duplessie, D-La Center
Candidate for: State Representative, District 18, Position 1
"The most significant business issue is going to be the budget and the projected deficit we have. No matter what the number ends up being, cuts are going to have to happen. What we need to do in Olympia is promote economic development as best as we can so we can increase revenue to the state.
Jobs and the economy go hand in hand. If people have a good job and the ability to keep it, they can buy a home, support a family and buy the necessities in life. I want to use my 20-plus years (in business) to promote a business-friendly environment in Olympia because that's what we need in the long run."
Jaime Herrera, R-Ridgefield
Candidate for: State Representative, District 18, Position 1
"The budget is the main issue we're going to have to tackle in Olympia in January. I want a balanced budget and I think we can do that without raising taxes. Hands down, with a $3.2 billion deficit, we're going to have to prioritize our spending and, just like families, eliminate those things we cannot afford."
Jonathan Fant, D-Battle Ground
Candidate for: State Representative, District 18, Position 2
"I would say the tax structure of the state would be my highest priority to help businesses. We have unique business and opportunity taxes (that are charged) on a percent of gross and we're one of the only states in the nation to do so, so businesses have to pay tax before they pay their bills. Something like a business income tax is what I'd propose. We rely heavily on property taxes, and if we could use a different source of income, we wouldn't have that negative effect on businesses buying and purchasing equipment. We really need a system that's not as regressive.
Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama
Candidate for: State Representative, District 18, Position 2
"One of the issues that businesses face year after year is regulation – more specifically, agency rules. The most beneficial thing the Legislature could do is to require legislative approval of all agency rules before any proposed rules go into effect. That is the only way there will be any accountability.
Take the final rules out of agency control and put (them) into the control of elected officials who can be held accountable. New rules like the heat stress rule or the increased stormwater rules will further degrade an already difficult business climate here in Washington."
