OR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 12, 2010
CONTACT: Martha Hanson
802-828-2226
MONTPELIER – Stating that job creation and improving Vermont ’s economy should be front-and-center for the legislature this year, Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie today announced a six-day, statewide Jobs Tour, on which he will meet with large and small business owners around the state. He said his aim is to listen, and identify new ways for state government to help Vermont businesses keep existing jobs and create new jobs.
“I can think of no better way to both fully understand the challenges facing Vermont employers and to find solutions to these complex problems than by visiting the people who actually create jobs and hire employees,” Dubie said.
“And I know from experience that you can get a great understanding of the challenges faced by businesses when you meet with employers and employees on their own turf.”
Since taking office in 2003, Dubie has travelled all over the world to promote Vermont businesses. He says that keeping existing jobs in Vermont and attracting new jobs requires Vermont to compete not just with 49 other states, but the world as well.
Forbes Magazine recently ranked Vermont as the 47th best state in the nation to do business. The ranking is down eleven spots from the previous year.
“There is no bigger cheerleader for Vermont than me,” Dubie said. “But we simply must do better than 47th. The legislature must realize that their actions have real world consequences for Vermonters who live and work in their districts. They cannot continue to talk about the importance of creating jobs while simultaneously voting to increase taxes and regulatory barriers on Vermont businesses.”
The 2009 legislative session ended with the legislature’s historic override of the Governor’s budget veto, which put a legislature’s spending plan in place for the first time in the state’s history.
It increased state spending by 3% and raised an estimated $26 million in new taxes on gas, cigarettes, liquor, digital downloads and lowered exemptions for estate taxes and capital gains. It also effectively raised the income tax by eliminating the federal income tax exemption.
At the same time, the total income of Vermonters dropped by $1 billion from the previous year. Bankruptcy filings in Vermont were up 23% in 2009 over 2008 filings.
Dubie points to the state’s $150 million deficit that looms for fiscal year 2011, saying that it’s past time to make difficult choices and start to “right-size” state government. “Last year,” he said, “over the Governor’s veto, the legislature raised taxes and increased state spending while Vermont ’s taxpayers’ paychecks shrank.”
He said, “It’s no coincidence that our Forbes ranking plunged in a year when Vermont ’s legislature drove taxes higher and made state government bigger. Actions have consequences; raising taxes in a recession is not leadership. When our small businesses grow, we create the revenue that funds all the great things that we value in our state.”
“Making Vermont the best state in New England to work and do business must be priority number one,” he stated. “We need to send a message to the world that Vermont is open for jobs.” Dubie is encouraging state legislators to go to businesses in their own districts during the next few weeks, and meet with employers and ask the same question, “How can Vermont make it easier for your business to hire and prosper?”
The tour will begin tomorrow (Wednesday) morning in Rutland , in a county that has experienced the highest unemployment in the state for three consecutive quarters. The itinerary for the day is as follows:
10:00 – 10:55 GE Rutland
11:15 – 12:00 OMYA
12:20 – 1:20 Round Table with Local Employers
1:15 – 2:00 Downtown Walkaround
2:30 – 3:15 H. Hirschmann LTD
Martha Hanson
Lieutenant Governor’s Chief of Staff
State of Vermont
The Statehouse
115 State Street
Montpelier , Vermont 05633
Tel. 802-828-2226 Fax 802-828-3198
