Which GOP gubernatorial candidate's plan is better?
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  Which GOP gubernatorial candidate's plan is better?
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Question: Which GOP gubernatorial candidate's plan is better?
#1
Plan A
 
#2
Plan B
 
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Author Topic: Which GOP gubernatorial candidate's plan is better?  (Read 3692 times)
Blue3
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« on: August 05, 2014, 08:42:36 PM »

Rhode Island is in the middle of its most competitive race for Governor with the most competent candidates in recent history. There are two Republicans and three Democrats running.

Below are the two Republican plans, summarized from their own websites. (I'm still reading the Democats' plans, which are about 150 pages each, while the Republicans' plans are about 10 pages each).

I'm probably going to vote Democrat, and a Democrat is probably going to win (RI hasn't elected a Democratic Governor since 1990, though Chafee did recently change his party after being elected and then decided not to run again.)
But it's still good to at least consider the Republicans and their stated plans. What do you think of them?




PLAN A
1.   Cost savings by encouraging cities to share services (ex: public safety, tax collection, coordinated procurement of goods/services)
2.   Increase the minimum car tax exemption from $500, and lower the car tax
3.   Eliminate the $500 minimum corporate tax for new businesses in their first 2 years
4.   Increase the estate tax threshold from $1.5million to $2.5million
5.   Create a “reduced sales tax zone” in border communities
6.   Exempt from taxation any capital gains realized on investments in RI-based businesses
7.   Target fraud in the Temporary Disability Insurance program
8.   Eliminate Unemployment Insurance for Seasonal Workers
9.   Create a line-item veto
10.   State Legislators should be subject to the Ethics Commission’s oversight
11.   Switch state workers from paper-based to electronic timesheets
12.   Identify any Medicaid fraud/waste
13.   Stop law that mandates teacher layoff notices on March 1
14.   Focus on bringing all potential 4th graders up to 4th grade level, allow more retentions

PLAN B
1.   Lower corporate tax from 7% to 5%
2.   Increase the estate tax threshold from $1.5million to $5.25million
3.   Change minimum corporate tax from $500 to $50
4.   Lower sales tax from 7% to 5.5%
5.   Make the Commissioner of Education accountable to the Governor first, instead of General Assembly
6.   Re-split the Education board into K-12 and Higher Education
7.   Defund the Post-Secondary Education Commissioner
8.   Create a Board of Trustees or Regents for the University of Rhode Island (URI), to further privatize and reduce state funding for URI
9.   Create a Jobs & Education Cabinet, to discuss the skills that students need to compete for jobs
10.   State Legislators should be subject to the Ethics Commission’s oversight
11.   Create a line-item veto
12.   Term limits for state legislators
13.   Establish a Voter Initiative process










(I'll probably do a Democratic version once I'm done reading their plans)
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AggregateDemand
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« Reply #1 on: August 05, 2014, 08:54:23 PM »

Plan B is better.

Line item veto is more like electing an emperor than an governor. The measure would have to be temporary. I don't know the details of URI funding, but eliminating state support of post-secondary education strikes me as bad policy. Unless Rhode Island works a cushy deal with Massachusetts state schools, no compelling reason to privatize the university system.
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Blue3
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« Reply #2 on: August 05, 2014, 09:17:31 PM »

Rhode Island, like many states in the Northeast, provides less state funding to public universities/colleges because there are so many other private ones around, like Brown/RISD/Harvard/Yale/MIT/etc. State funding for URI is at an all-time low, which keeps raising tuition for students. That one item makes Candidate B unacceptable to me.

And I think Republicans really want a line-item veto because the Democratic Party has been in control of the state legislature since the 1930's, and has really weakened the governor's power. Even though I'm a Democrat, I know our money could be spent more efficiently than our one-party state. I'd rather the Republicans gain control of the General Assembly for a term, but that's highly unlikely to ever happen. So I can see the appeal for a line-item veto.





PLAN A
1.   Cost savings by encouraging cities to share services (ex: public safety, tax collection, coordinated procurement of goods/services)
Good.
2.   Increase the minimum car tax exemption from $500, and lower the car tax
Good
3.   Eliminate the $500 minimum corporate tax for new businesses in their first 2 years
Good
4.   Increase the estate tax threshold from $1.5million to $2.5million
Unnecessary
5.   Create a “reduced sales tax zone” in border communities
Unnecessary
6.   Exempt from taxation any capital gains realized on investments in RI-based businesses
Good
7.   Target fraud in the Temporary Disability Insurance program
Good
8.   Eliminate Unemployment Insurance for Seasonal Workers
Good
9.   Create a line-item veto
Undecided
10.   State Legislators should be subject to the Ethics Commission’s oversight
YES!
11.   Switch state workers from paper-based to electronic timesheets
YES!
12.   Identify any Medicaid fraud/waste
Ok
13.   Stop law that mandates teacher layoff notices on March 1
Ok
14.   Focus on bringing all potential 4th graders up to 4th grade level, allow more retentions
Good



PLAN B
1.   Lower corporate tax from 7% to 5%
Ok
2.   Increase the estate tax threshold from $1.5million to $5.25million
Unnecessary
3.   Change minimum corporate tax from $500 to $50
Ok
4.   Lower sales tax from 7% to 5.5%
Ok
5.   Make the Commissioner of Education accountable to the Governor first, instead of General Assembly
Unnecessary
6.   Re-split the Education board into K-12 and Higher Education
Unnecessary
7.   Defund the Post-Secondary Education Commissioner
NO.
8.   Create a Board of Trustees or Regents for the University of Rhode Island (URI), to further privatize and reduce state funding for URI
DEALBREAKER.
9.   Create a Jobs & Education Cabinet, to discuss the skills that students need to compete for jobs
Unnecessary
10.   State Legislators should be subject to the Ethics Commission’s oversight
YES!
11.   Create a line-item veto
Undecided
12.   Term limits for state legislators
Unnecessary
13.   Establish a Voter Initiative process
Undecided/unnecessary
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TNF
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« Reply #3 on: August 06, 2014, 12:51:32 AM »

PLAN A
1.   Cost savings by encouraging cities to share services (ex: public safety, tax collection, coordinated procurement of goods/services) This is code for austerity.
2.   Increase the minimum car tax exemption from $500, and lower the car tax Eh, if anything we should leave taxation of personal vehicles as it is (for low income earners) and implement surcharges on luxury vehicle purchases to help fund bigger and better public transit facitilities
3.   Eliminate the $500 minimum corporate tax for new businesses in their first 2 years Utterly vile idea. Why should businesses get more tax relief when unemployment is as high as it is today? If you want to punch a hole in the budget, do so by putting the money to good use, i.e. hiring the unemployed.
4.   Increase the estate tax threshold from $1.5million to $2.5million Another handout to rich people. This really needs to go in the other direction.
5.   Create a “reduced sales tax zone” in border communities Just eliminate sales tax entirely.
6.   Exempt from taxation any capital gains realized on investments in RI-based businesses More handouts for the rich. Capital gains should be taxed at a higher rate than any other economic activity.
7.   Target fraud in the Temporary Disability Insurance program Not sure about this one, but it sounds terrible.
8.   Eliminate Unemployment Insurance for Seasonal Workers Utterly vile proposal yet again. If anything, unemployment insurance needs to fully cover everyone and should provide more, not less, of a benefit for those who are out of work.
9.   Create a line-item veto Nope. The executive should not have that power.
10.   State Legislators should be subject to the Ethics Commission’s oversight Sounds reasonable but a Republican is proposing it so probably not
11.   Switch state workers from paper-based to electronic timesheets Good idea.
12.   Identify any Medicaid fraud/waste Not worth the time and effort. Go after big-time fraudsters instead (i.e. bankers, businessmen, etc.)
13.   Stop law that mandates teacher layoff notices on March 1 Why would you want to stop this?
14.   Focus on bringing all potential 4th graders up to 4th grade level, allow more retentions Eh, not sure how well this is actually going to work in practice.

PLAN B
1.   Lower corporate tax from 7% to 5% Terrible.
2.   Increase the estate tax threshold from $1.5million to $5.25million Awful.
3.   Change minimum corporate tax from $500 to $50 Disgusting.
4.   Lower sales tax from 7% to 5.5% Good!
5.   Make the Commissioner of Education accountable to the Governor first, instead of General Assembly Terrible.
6.   Re-split the Education board into K-12 and Higher Education Not sure.
7.   Defund the Post-Secondary Education Commissioner Sounds like a bad idea.
8.   Create a Board of Trustees or Regents for the University of Rhode Island (URI), to further privatize and reduce state funding for URI Privatization = robbery
9.   Create a Jobs & Education Cabinet, to discuss the skills that students need to compete for jobs Probably will suck in practice
10.   State Legislators should be subject to the Ethics Commission’s oversight Not sure
11.   Create a line-item veto Nope
12.   Term limits for state legislators Definitely no, unless the state legislators are chosen by lot rather than election
13.   Establish a Voter Initiative process Absolutely


Lots of godawful handouts to the rich, but that's to be expected, because these are Republicans we're talking about here.
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FEMA Camp Administrator
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« Reply #4 on: August 06, 2014, 02:09:08 AM »

There are lots of both plans that I like, and some things I have problems with. Can't weight them out now, a debate would be interesting.
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GaussLaw
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« Reply #5 on: August 07, 2014, 11:22:56 AM »

There are lots of both plans that I like, and some things I have problems with. Can't weight them out now, a debate would be interesting.

Same here.  I would give Plan A an edge though.  The only problem is that I'm not sure there will be enough savings to pay for the tax cuts.
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H. Ross Peron
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« Reply #6 on: August 07, 2014, 04:41:41 PM »

A is the lesser evil.
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Atlas Has Shrugged
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« Reply #7 on: August 07, 2014, 09:14:48 PM »

There are lots of both plans that I like, and some things I have problems with. Can't weight them out now, a debate would be interesting.

Same here.  I would give Plan A an edge though.  The only problem is that I'm not sure there will be enough savings to pay for the tax cuts.
That was my concern as well. I suppose some compromise can be made on taxes to help stomp out a deficit.
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AggregateDemand
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« Reply #8 on: August 08, 2014, 02:10:14 PM »

PLAN B
3.   Change minimum corporate tax from $500 to $50 Disgusting.

The thought of tax cuts for caterers and small restaurants disgusts you. Lefties really don't know anything about business law or tax law, do they?
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« Reply #9 on: August 08, 2014, 02:24:01 PM »

Plan A is more ridiculous. Lots of wishy-washy things - "reduced sales tax zones" at borders? It seems just more of a mess, full of vague promises that don't mean anything. Plan B has a lot of stuff I don't like, but is far more tangible.
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Blue3
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« Reply #10 on: August 08, 2014, 02:46:37 PM »
« Edited: August 08, 2014, 02:48:31 PM by Starwatcher »

Just so everyone knows...

The candidate with plan A is... Ken Block. He is a software engineer, businessman and political reformer who got several state laws declared unconstitutional in court. He formed the Moderate Party in RI a few years ago, becoming the third-largest party in RI, but was unsuccessful. His software is aimed at identifying government fraud and waste. In 1995, his software company was able to save the State of Texas over $1 billion by developing a statewide debit card system. He offered to assist the Providence Police Department and State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, free of charge. He was the President of a RI-based taxpayer advocacy and watchdog group until resigning to run for Governor again.
http://www.blockforgovernor.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Block_(politician)


The candidate with plan B is... Allan Fung. The first Chinese-American Mayor in Rhode Island, he's been Mayor of the city of Cranston. He was a prosecutor for the state's attorney general before being elected Mayor in 2008, and worked for the life insurance company MetLife. His campaign has come under attack in RI for being very negative, calling the opponents' followers "BlockHeads." Fund accidentally killed someone while driving in 1989 and had his record expunged.
http://www.allanfung.com/home
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Fung
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Mordecai
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« Reply #11 on: August 09, 2014, 03:53:16 AM »

8.   Create a Board of Trustees or Regents for the University of Rhode Island (URI), to further privatize and reduce state funding for URI Privatization = robbery

The candidate with plan B is... Allan Fung.

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What a dick.
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Supersonic
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« Reply #12 on: August 09, 2014, 06:11:36 AM »

I actually like both plans, tilt plan B though.
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TNF
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« Reply #13 on: August 09, 2014, 11:13:04 AM »

PLAN B
3.   Change minimum corporate tax from $500 to $50 Disgusting.

The thought of tax cuts for caterers and small restaurants disgusts you. Lefties really don't know anything about business law or tax law, do they?

The thought of tax cuts for people who don't need them disgusts me. Capital has gotten a free-ride for long enough. I frankly don't give a damn about "small business" nor do I see it as inherently superior in any fashion to big business, because I'm not some kind of reactionary who idolizes all things small over all things large. Big business is big for a reason. We should support consolidation in the economy to increase overall efficiency and take advantage of the economies of scale that monopoly brings, not waste our time day-dreaming about poor mom and pop or the anarchist bike co-op down the street.
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AggregateDemand
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« Reply #14 on: August 09, 2014, 11:38:52 AM »

The thought of tax cuts for people who don't need them disgusts me. Capital has gotten a free-ride for long enough. I frankly don't give a damn about "small business" nor do I see it as inherently superior in any fashion to big business, because I'm not some kind of reactionary who idolizes all things small over all things large. Big business is big for a reason. We should support consolidation in the economy to increase overall efficiency and take advantage of the economies of scale that monopoly brings, not waste our time day-dreaming about poor mom and pop or the anarchist bike co-op down the street.

The only people who pay the minimum corporate tax are small businesses with virtually no income. Minimum corporate tax is not assessed on income, and generally violates ability-to-pay, but let's just pretend that people don't have rights. Much easier.

Monopoly provides nothing. Look at what happened to Rockefeller's fortune when he was forced to break up and sell off Standard Oil. At some point, consolidation becomes an irrational use of capital.
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New_Conservative
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« Reply #15 on: August 22, 2014, 01:03:39 AM »

I like Block's plan more than Fung's. I'm a fan of the line-item veto for Rhode Island. I think it would go a long way in helping the political situation in Rhode Island.
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jfern
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« Reply #16 on: August 22, 2014, 01:36:26 AM »
« Edited: August 22, 2014, 01:38:45 AM by ○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└ »

Plan B is absolutely terrible. But I think Plan A is even worse.

PLAN A
1.   Cost savings by encouraging cities to share services (ex: public safety, tax collection, coordinated procurement of goods/services)
Could be bad, but depends on the specifics

2.   Increase the minimum car tax exemption from $500, and lower the car tax
Cars should be taxed more

3.   Eliminate the $500 minimum corporate tax for new businesses in their first 2 years
Are we talking about only $500 here? If so, meaningless.

4.   Increase the estate tax threshold from $1.5million to $2.5million
Total handout to the rich

5.   Create a “reduced sales tax zone” in border communities
A race to the bottom

6.   Exempt from taxation any capital gains realized on investments in RI-based businesses
Total handout to the rich

7.   Target fraud in the Temporary Disability Insurance program
Does this mean treat everyone as guilty?

8.   Eliminate Unemployment Insurance for Seasonal Workers
Terrible

9.   Create a line-item veto
More power for governor

10.   State Legislators should be subject to the Ethics Commission’s oversight
Whatever

11.   Switch state workers from paper-based to electronic timesheets
Whatever

12.   Identify any Medicaid fraud/waste
Needs specifics here

13.   Stop law that mandates teacher layoff notices on March 1
Well, I guess he has one non idiotic idea

14.   Focus on bringing all potential 4th graders up to 4th grade level, allow more retentions
Sounds good on paper

PLAN B
1.   Lower corporate tax from 7% to 5%
Bad

2.   Increase the estate tax threshold from $1.5million to $5.25million
Even more of a handout to the rich

3.   Change minimum corporate tax from $500 to $50
Basically the same as the other guy

4.   Lower sales tax from 7% to 5.5%
OK

5.   Make the Commissioner of Education accountable to the Governor first, instead of General Assembly
MORE POWER FOR ME!!!!!!

6.   Re-split the Education board into K-12 and Higher Education
Don't know

7.   Defund the Post-Secondary Education Commissioner
Why?

8.   Create a Board of Trustees or Regents for the University of Rhode Island (URI), to further privatize and reduce state funding for URI
Sounds awful

9.   Create a Jobs & Education Cabinet, to discuss the skills that students need to compete for jobs
Depends

10.   State Legislators should be subject to the Ethics Commission’s oversight
OK

11.   Create a line-item veto
More power for me!

12.   Term limits for state legislators
Hasn't really helped things in California

13.   Establish a Voter Initiative process
Ditto for California
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DS0816
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« Reply #17 on: September 09, 2014, 02:28:58 PM »

I actually like both plans, tilt plan B though.

That's enough to tell us, without uncertainty, that both candidates need to be rejected.
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Blue3
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« Reply #18 on: September 09, 2014, 11:26:56 PM »

Fung (candidate B) has won the primary.

Sorry I never had time to do the Democratic version, they all had a crazy amount of info)
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All Along The Watchtower
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« Reply #19 on: September 11, 2014, 09:20:34 PM »

Obviously both are pretty awful, but Plan B seems a little less awful I guess.
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