Gary Johnson on Corporations Libertarian presidential nominee; former Republican NM Governor

Built Big J Enterprises into leading construction company

By the time I sold the company in 1999, it was one of New Mexico's leading construction companies, grossing $20 million a year. We had grown from a door-to-door business to a multi-million dollar corporation, ranked as high as #34 on the New Mexico Private 100 companies list.

When I sold the business, I made enough money that I wouldn't have to work ever again. I'd earned true freedom

Visited Occupy Wall Street; we need radical surgery

Meanwhile, the federal government is spending us deeper and deeper into debt while we shell out billions in foreign aid we can no longer afford and trillions more for foreign wars in which our national interest is just not apparent to me.

Republicans and Democrats have both failed to respond to this reality. In order to create jobs now, we need radical surgery, not a haircut.

Started a one-man handyman business; grew it to 1,000 people

A: I bring a unique perspective to this stage. I started a one-man handyman business in Albuquerque in 1974 and grew it to over 1,000 employees. I have run for two political offices in my life: governor of New Mexico and reelection. I promise to submit a balanced budget to congress in the year 2013. I promise to veto legislation where expenditures exceed revenue.

Eliminate corporate income tax as real way to create jobs

A: I'm the only candidate that is talking about a balanced budget in the year 2013 and eliminating a corporate income tax as the real way to create jobs.

Q: Why's that?

A: Everyone else is parsing it in terms of lowering the corporate income tax. Eliminate it. It's not that big of a generator of income, and it's a double tax. Get rid of it and you would have an explosion of hiring. As a corporation, why wouldn't you base your business in the United States--and the jobs that went along with that--with no corporate tax? The advantage to not taxing corporations would be an advantage to all of us.

Q: But the biggest advantage would go to the best off. It would be much cheaper for corporations to pay out to shareholders.

A: Exactly. That income would get distributed to shareholders, at which point it would get taxed.

Lower the tax burden; eliminate corporate tax

1. Cut Spending: We must restrain spending across the board.
2. Cut Taxes: The US tax system imposes an enormous toll on productivity through high marginal rates, absurd complexity, loopholes for the well-connected, and incentives for wasteful decisions. The government must lower the tax burden to stimulate the economy.
   • Eliminate punitive taxation of savings and investment.
   • Simplify the tax code; stop using it to reward special interests and control behavior.
   • Eliminate the corporate income tax so that America will once again be a great place to start a business.
3. Reduce Federal Involvement in the Economy.