Brian Schweitzer Interview, Part 2
October 29th, 2003 | by mtpolitics |Part 1 can be found here.
For this round of questioning, I posed the following:
The state has been having financial difficulty, to say the least. The words “sales tax” are floating around, as they seem to every election cycle.
What do you see as the most pressing problem with the budget? That is to say, are we underfunded or overspent? And what steps would you take to rectify the situation.
Brian’s reply:
Why talk about creating new taxes? We must address the habit of the current administration and its allies in the legislature of pointlessly squandering huge amounts of money. We’ve all heard about our state’s budget deficits and revenue shortfalls during the last ten years, but during that same period of time, the state government has been hemorrhaging tax dollars at the seams. They’ve blown hundreds of millions of dollars that could have been invested in education or used to provide investment capital for Montana’s small businesses. They have also used their appointment powers to pack the state employee ranks with political patronage jobs, not Montana’s most qualified leaders. Pick the best and let them do their best… good results will follow!
To all those who say that we can’t increase revenue in Montana without raising taxes, let me point out a few examples of where the past administration and the legislature have wasted your tax dollars.
One not-so-brilliant idea was to install a new computer system at the Department of Revenue called the Points System. This system was supposed to allow the agency to track tax revenue in order to ensure that it all came in. The Points System had one small flaw, however: it didn’t work. Rather than scrapping the program immediately, DOR employees were told by the governor’s office, “just make it work.” It seems the administration wanted to avoid embarrassment for spending millions on a useless computer system. So they kept it, and continued to spend money on it, until it finally became apparent that it would never work. Then they scrapped it anyway. It eventually cost the state $54 million to install and operate this Points System. And although we’ll never know the exact amount, it’s been estimated that an additional $75-150 million in tax revenue fell through the cracks while the defective Points System was in operation. Imagine what we could have done with that money, rather than having it wasted so that the governor could save face. We can greatly increase our state’s revenue by simply eliminating this sort of wasteful spending.
And what about the governor’s plan to create a more business-friendly atmosphere in Montana? Rather than using tax incentives to assist the Montana businesses that actually invest in our communities, past administrations have squandered hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks for a couple dozen out-of-state corporations like the Columbia Falls Aluminum Company (which is owned by Swiss investors). These companies have responded by decreasing their investment in Montana, cutting wages and benefits, and decreasing their workforces by more than a thousand workers.
I propose that we could better serve Montana’s business climate by investing in Montana companies. We must grow our economy by investing in companies with roots in our state, companies that will expand and employ more Montana workers, and who will keep their profits in our local economies. We cannot afford to keep chasing after large out-of-state corporations by offering ever-increasing tax breaks, only to watch those corporations eliminate jobs and send their profits elsewhere. The small businesses that will move Montana’s economy forward already exist in Montana. We do not need to waste any more tax dollars on companies who have shown they have no interest in the future of our state.
7 Responses to “Brian Schweitzer Interview, Part 2”
By Chris Laslovich on Oct 30, 2003 | Reply
Supporting Brian Schweitzer means supporting good business sense and good government. I am sick of Republican “leadership” in this state run Montana’s economy into the ground. It’s time we all get behind a candidate who wants to invest in long term solutions, not seek short term remedies to the problems we face in this state.
By Ben Richardson on Oct 30, 2003 | Reply
Hear, hear!
Brian Schweitzer is honest and realistic about what it will take to improve Montana’s economy. He’s not promising to bring Dell or General Motors or some other large corporation to the state, as some sort of miraculous cure-all that will instantly bring thousands of jobs. As many other people commenting on this interview have already noted, this is just not going to happen in a state like Montana. Brian is right when he says that we need to invest in Montana’s small businesses to help them grow — that’s the way to create more jobs.
By Devon on Oct 30, 2003 | Reply
Brian is right on with this POINTS system! Democrats in the state legislature this year were focused on the things that really matter to regular Montanans like education, K-12 and university, as well as health and human services. While they were working on those incredibly important issues, legislative Republicans demanded that the state buy a new computer system to replace the one we bought only a few years ago for millions of dollars!
Well, I know what my prioties are and who best represents those priorities. I can’t wait for Brian to go to Helena and clean house and work on the things that matter to Montanans and will move Montana forward!
By mtpolitics on Oct 30, 2003 | Reply
I’m not exactly sure that it’s the state’s (that is to say, the taxpayers’) job to provide investment capital to small businesses — with the exception of the coal tax, which was specifically enacted for that purpose.
As to “political patronage jobs,” those are endemic to every administration, regardless of party affiliation. “To the victors…”
POINTS was a boondoggle, and rightfully pointed out as such. However, adding that money back into the budget is somewhat of a canard. After all, that money has already been spent, and a new system will have to be developed. What will the cost of that system be? Will that system be 100% accurate, and not lose any revenue?
We shouldn’t pursue out of state interests? What about Bresnan Communications opening a call center here in Billings? Should we ignore them, since Bresnan is an out-of-state interest? Does the potential of 100 jobs outweigh some tax breaks? Is there not revenue in more taxpayers competing for some relatively high-skill jobs?
It’s not an all-or-nothing proposition. Surely we can attract new business while growing our own hometown businesses.
By Paul on Oct 31, 2003 | Reply
Craig,
I don’t think it is an all-or-nothing proposition when it comes to attracting out of state business to Montana. But I think what Brian is saying is that we have a history of offering lucrative tax incentives to out of state corporations who end up screwing us over.
I can’t speak to the case of Bresnan Communications, but perhaps you remember a similar firm in Kalispell called Stream International. The city lured the corporation to Montana in 2000 with a generous financial package that included $650,000 in training money. In return, Stream promised to open a call center that would bring hundreds of good jobs to the Flathead.
What Stream didn’t make so obvious was that the reason they moved here in the first place is that they could pay their workers less than almost anywhere else in the country. And if that wasn’t enough, they actually proceeded to cut wages and benefits even further, as well as harrass employees trying to organize, and ban the distribution of a local newspaper that brought these facts to light. Finally, last spring Stream closed its doors in Kalispell, laying off more than 500 workers. They then moved their operations to Canada, where they can pay workers even less.
Are these the kind of businesses we want to bring to Montana? I sincerely hope that the deal with Bresnan works out, that the people who work there get paid well, and that the company sticks around in Montana long enough to actually make a positive impact in the community. But I fear that the moment they find a place where they can cut their costs even further, they will hit the road and leave us holding the bag.
Brian is right when he said we need to invest in local companies that have roots in our state, companies that won’t leave just so that they can pay a wage that’s even less than what they pay here. We need to invest in companies that care about Montana as much as they do about the bottom line. What we don’t need is to give away our tax dollars to corporations who who simply use us as long as it benefits them, and then toss us away.
By shannon on Nov 4, 2003 | Reply
Thank you , Paul, for bringing up the points about the out-of-state corporations that feel free to treat Montana as a third world economy within the United States. While it’s easy to be seduced by the promise of more jobs at first, it doesn’t take long to realize that we would be far better off investing in clean, sustainable industries that pay a living, or atleast fair, wage! Brian is right on target in his first question, talking about the need for technological training and developing a highly skilled workforce. Retail and service positions will never be able to provide the quality of life and security of a job in the skilled trades that provide us with our basic life needs.Plumbers, welders and electricians will never be subject to corporate bankruptcy that leaves thousands jobless, and valuable commercial real estate vacant for months at a time.