Fiscal and Economic Issues

I have never been afraid to vote NO when I felt special breaks were being offered to select businesses.

A great lie in American politics is that government officials create jobs. That is simply untrue. Entrepreneurs and business owners create jobs. Government must simply get out of the way and let them do so.

The role of state government is to create a solid infrastructure for commerce to thrive, and then to apply rules uniformly across the economy. When efforts are made to choose winners and losers in our system, I will be a consistent NO.

We do not suffer from an undertaxed problem in Michigan. We suffer from a wasted revenue problem.

Runaway taxes, particularly regressive ones like property taxes, gasoline taxes, and sales tax, serve only to stifle economic growth and often harm the most vulnerable communities in our society.

We must demand that our state government examine how taxpayer funds can be better used, and abandon the notion that raising taxes and fees on residents is the best solution to ensuring every pet project in our state can continue to be funded.

As a city councilmember, I have never lost sight of my belief that all government dollars are taxpayer dollars. It is far easier to spend other people's money. I will bring that same stewardship mindset to Lansing.

News that the state government paid out over $8 billion in fraudulent COVID related benefits reflects a greater problem: too often, taxpayer funds are given toward particular projects, but accountability and oversight are lacking.

We need to be intentional about the way taxpayer funds are used, emphasize more localized government control of relief during crises, and ensure a proper system of checks and balances occurs across state government.