Ben Todd Enters Vermont State Representative Race
Todd for House
430 park st. #7a
Barton VT 05822
(802) 239-3015
[mailto:toddforhouse2006@gmail.com]
7/30/06
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Benjamin Todd of Barton is pleased to announce his
candidacy for the Vermont house in the Orleans-Caledonia
1 district. This includes the towns of Albany, Barton,
Craftsbury, Glover, Greensboro, Sheffield and Wheelock.
He is seeking both the Libertarian Party nomination
and the Republican Party nomination. The Libertarian
Party will nominate candidates on July 31 2006, and
the Republican Party primary will be held in September.
I would like to touch on a few issues that are important
to me.
Property rights: Current Vermont septic law forces
anyone who is building a house to hire an engineer
to design a septic. The problem being that there are
not enough engineers, and they are very costly. My
solution is to offer a licensing program for contractors,
builders, and /or homeowners. They could take a course
in septic design and then would be able to build a
septic system for a fraction of the cost of an engineer.
Vermont needs to have a policy on wind towers. Instead
of tying up companies for years only to deny the permit
we should have a streamlined legal process to either
quickly approve or deny the application.
Taxes: Property taxes are out of control. We need
to find a better way to fund education then property
taxes or give control of schools and how they are
funded back to the towns. Even since the state "fixed"
the education problem by taking property tax money
and then doling it back out we have seen huge tax
increases that are much more then people bargained
for.
Currently state federal and local governments take
over 40% or the average Americans income. That means
you work for over 1/3 of the year just to pay taxes.
Although I can not do anything about the federal government,
I will work to cut taxes across the board by privatizing
many of the services that the state now offers. A
private company will be much better at stopping abuse,
and will be able to manage many programs in a fiscally
responsible manner.
Healthcare: A big problem for many Vermonters is
a lack of decent health insurance. Laws passed restricting
insurance companies in Vermont have driven all but
a few out of the state. Many candidates are supporting
a Canadian style health care system where the government
pays all medical bills. If anyone watches the Canadian
news they would hear constant stories about people
on 6 month waiting lists to see a doctor. I am supporting
a Swiss style health care system. First we would eliminate
all restrictions on health insurance companies. Second
we would build a safety net to cover the costs above
10% of a person's income. This would insure that seniors,
disables persons, or people with pre-existing conditions
would have quality private health insurance while
keeping rates low for others.
Personal freedom and responsibility:
I believe that individuals have the right to live
their lives as they see fit as long as they do not
infringe on the rights of others to do the same. Individuals
are also solely responsible for their own actions.
Benjamin Todd lives in Barton with his wife Kelly
and their two children Gabrial and Brooklyn. He ran
for state house on 2004 as a Libertarian, and is a
member of the Vermont Libertarian Party state committee.
He is a member of the Castle coalition (citizens against
eminent domain abuse).
To join the Todd for house email list just send an
email that says "subscribe" to [mailto:toddforhouse2006@gmail.com]
To volunteer you can email me at the same address.
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