Tax Fairness
The Environment
Education
Other Issues
Featured Issue: Higher Education
Featured Issue: Gambling
Featured Issue: Tobacco
Featured Issue: Election Values/Campaign Reform
Featured Issue: Property Taxes
Featured Issue: School Consolidation
Featured Issue: West Virginia's Post-Coal Future
Featured Issue: Environmental Protection
Featured Issue: Disability Issues
A  means I am the only candidate taking this stand on this issue.
Tax Fairness
Six dollars of every $100 you spend at the grocery store goes to the state. I want to replace the food tax with more taxes on tobacco and alcohol. Cigars and snuff are currently not taxed at all. Cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and alcohol are NOT necessities.You the taxpayer bear the burden for the medical and legal problems caused by these products.
Absentee landowners own much of our land, but shift much of the tax burden onto you. How about an excess acreage tax, equitable assessments on mineral and timber owners, and a tax on coal royalties?
Tax credits should go to businesses owned by you and your neighbors, not outside companies like Rite-Aid that pull up stakes and leave. We should encourage the start-up of more home-grown businesses and build a reputation as a haven for small business.
Big business, especially coal, should pay its fair share of Workers' Compensation taxes/premiums.
The Environment
Many of our mountains have been decapitated. No new permits should be issued for mountaintop removal mining until all previously flattened sites have been developed as the law requires. Companies already strip mining must obey the law in full.
Timbering is hardly regulated at all. This must change to protect our forests.
The Blackwater Canyon deserves the protection of national park status.
Many West Virginians depend on wells for their drinking water. In addition, West Virginia water is generally rated top quality and has economic development potential. We must protect our water and ensure that West Virginians, not out-of-staters, profit from its development.
Education
I support small schools. The state is planning to close hundreds of elementary schools. Your schools are the heart and soul of your community, and your children benefit from attending smaller schools close to home. Together we can change state policy and save local schools.
Other Issues
West Virginia and Washington State have the most advanced internet capacity in the country. We should find creative ways this can help our schools and economy.
We must plan for the day, coming in this generation, when coal no longer contributes to our economy. This includes finding new ways to grow our economy, and making sure the taxpayer is not stuck cleaning up the messes coal leaves behind.
The spread of gambling should be halted, and illegal gray machines shut down as the law requires.
All West Virginians should have access to basic health care.
I am a strong supporter of hunting, both as recreation and a food source. But assault weapons exist only to kill lots of people quickly and should not be available to the general public. Our children must be protected from easy access to guns. Our towns should have the local option of restricting gun sales.
State government should not be spending money on frills like fancy office furniture while the basic needs of our citizens go unmet.
People with disabilites deserve the same access to buildings and opportunities as other West Virginians. The state has a long way to go to correct the problems facing the disabled.
Let me know if there are other issues you want to hear about.
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