Andrew Hunt in Past and present Governor candidates from Georgia
On Corporations:
Eliminate employment penalty taxes
Eliminating employment penalty taxes equally helps all employers--small, medium or large--in every location of Georgia. It also helps employees by making a tighter market place for employees, thus opening new career options--which can also be enhancement
in compensation.The Job Powerhouse program will be funded by cutting expenses and government, while receiving greater income from the expanding economy that it fosters. Expenses of having under-employed or unemployed are reduced; crimes and prisoners
are fewer; and poverty and people needing financial aid are greatly reduced. With more jobs, the number of people paying taxes is increased. Without any increase in the tax rates Georgia will receive much more income in the form of sales tax due to
increased commerce, and people and companies will have higher income, which will add to the tax income. By reducing state expenses and increasing its income, these employment tax structure changes can be implemented and maintain a balanced budget.
Source: 2014 Georgia gubernatorial campaign website, AndrewHunt.us
Aug 31, 2014
On Crime:
Community rehab programs instead of incarceration
Keeping Families Together through Prison Reform: Move away from improper jail terms.As governor, I want to keep families together, keep people in the workforce, and save taxpayers money. One of the best ways to approach this is through prison reform.
Georgia operates the 5th largest prison system in the US, and it's costing taxpayers billions of dollars. Roughly 5% of tax dollars goes towards our incarceration systems. Georgia's legislators have considered cutting funds to our education and
healthcare without even considering reducing the costs of our prisons. If we shrink our prison population by no longer incarcerating people for victimless crimes, we can help keep families together and reduce our tax dollar waste.
A great example of
a cost-effective, smaller government is the prison reform in Texas. By closing 3 prisons, Texas has reunited families and reduced crime rates. They then spent a fraction of the cost of incarceration on creating community rehabilitation programs.
Source: 2014 Georgia gubernatorial campaign website, AndrewHunt.us
Aug 31, 2014
On Drugs:
Fines instead of imprisonment for non-violent drug offenses
Victimless, non-violent offenders should not be ripped away from their families and jobs by making them serve time. This only increases their potential recidivism rate. Instead of incarceration, the state can charge fines, similar to most traffic
violations. I will move in this direction as much as possible. I hope to show a majority of people that that a shift toward greater Liberty can be great for society. I will support changes to the War on Drugs to reduce the impact that drugs have on
our society. Much of these impacts are crime related, a direct cause of these drugs being illegal. I would like to have a net savings in our budget by funding drug rehabilitation programs instead of jail time, and
will work to get such changes passed into law and implemented. By improving education and employment in Georgia, we will see a decrease in crime.
Source: 2014 Georgia gubernatorial campaign website, AndrewHunt.us
Aug 31, 2014
On Education:
Increase both public and private school choices
My parents founded the first Montessori school in Georgia where the love of learning and independence is instilled in children.
I am passionate about education and furthering their vision for excellence in education.
Georgia has multiple leading higher education institutions which will receive continued support; however, raising standards and preparation of students from K through 12 should be a top priority.
In order to do this first we must increase both public and private school choices available to parents and their children. This will create competition and continuously raise the performance bar and lead to improved performance rankings.
Source: 2014 Georgia gubernatorial campaign website, AndrewHunt.us
Aug 31, 2014
On Government Reform:
Erase laws instead of creating new ones
Law Erasers: Move away from the law-making mindset: The more laws there are, the less Freedom people and companies have. About 50% of our elected officials are attorneys, while attorneys only make up less than 2% of the population. Deal and Carter are
both attorneys, and the laws they help create mark their successes. I will reduce laws and regulations, increasing freedom and reducing the cost of simply living life and doing business.I will establish an open and transparent government. This means
keeping Georgians informed. I will let people know what bills are being written and who is writing them. If any changes are being made to the bills, who made them? Most importantly, if any individuals or businesses receive perks from a bill, I want
people to know who they are and what the benefits constitute of. That way, voters can be more informed as to whom they'd like to reelect. I'm here to serve the people, not my party or special interest groups. I will say no to deception and corruption!
Source: 2014 Georgia gubernatorial campaign website, AndrewHunt.us
Aug 31, 2014
On Government Reform:
Ensure easy access to voting, including electronic
We must ensure that there is easy access to voting, but that there is no improper voting or tabulation. Our current voting machines are aging and do not offer a hard copy record to audit. There are optional modern 'electronic' ways of voting
but a person then would be tied to their vote so that voting could be verified (the personal voting record would remain confidential and be deleted once there is no dispute about winner from the candidates).
Traditional voting with no name tied to a ballot of course should always be available, but we need to have a better system with audit capability of these. People must know it is a fair system and yields accurate
results so they know that their vote matters. Additionally, there should be easier ballot access for all parties wanting to run for office.
Source: 2014 Georgia gubernatorial campaign website, AndrewHunt.us
Aug 31, 2014
On Health Care:
Georgia can do better than ObamaCare
The state of Georgia can do better than the Affordable Healthcare Act (Obama Care). The AHA is a special interest bill that helps insurance companies make more money by requiring people to get insurance plans from a select few companies. Instead, what
the people need are options that support a free enterprise system.In addition to insurance plans, we should have Co-op options like Colorado, or even Direct Health Care programs between patients and their doctors. I would also work to change rules and
regulations to decrease insurance cost for providers so that that the total cost to provide health care can be reduced by 10-20% in many cases.
One of the main culprits of high healthcare costs is malpractice insurance. In Minnesota, malpractice
insurance costs half of what doctors pay in Georgia. By providing more options than just insurance by large healthcare companies and reducing insurance costs for providers, the patient (customer) and doctor will both come out ahead.
Source: 2014 Georgia gubernatorial campaign website, AndrewHunt.us
Aug 31, 2014
On Jobs:
Job Powerhouse plan instead of crony capitalism
Currently only large businesses and the well-connected receive special relief, incentives, and government contracts. There are so many neighborhoods, small towns and cities around Georgia full of people who do not receive any benefits. The majority of
companies and people pay for this crony capitalism. With the Job Powerhouse plan we establish a level playing field with fairness and freedom of operation. Companies and citizens create the jobs that drive our economy. A truly free enterprise system
without penalties on employers will grow jobs rapidly.There should be no special awards to only a few companies. Deal helped create a fund with which he can direct special benefits to a small number of selected companies. This is the ultimate example
of crony capitalism. There needs to be as few regulations as possible so that we can have a true free enterprise system. Let the open market place, not the government, decide on the winners and losers. There will be so many more winners and more jobs.
Source: 2014 Georgia gubernatorial campaign website, AndrewHunt.us
Aug 31, 2014
On Jobs:
Reduce payroll tax when paying over $11/hour
Incentivize Over $11/hour Pay: Our objective is to incentivize employers to create jobs that provide competitive pay for all Georgians.
To bring a higher base pay to Georgians, the employment penalty tax reimbursement of federal payroll taxes will be for jobs paying $11/hour or more, and this will be indexed to inflation.
Additionally, maintaining low unemployment will drive up pay for all, as employers will compete to get the staff they need. A strong free market economy yields great jobs!
Thus, elimination of employment penalty taxes will bring higher pay and ensure fewer jobs with lower pay. When the People earn more, there is a stronger economy -which in turn helps all businesses.
Source: 2014 Georgia gubernatorial campaign website, AndrewHunt.us
Aug 31, 2014
On Technology:
Apply lessons of nanotech to colleges; stop importing talent
As founder and former CEO of a leading nanotechnology company I personally know the importance of highly educated work force. As a pioneer in the field of nanotechnology I have proudly represented our state in national and international forums and
conferences where leaders from across the world collaborate to find solutions to some of the most complex challenges on the planet. We will establish a strong network of interdisciplinary partnerships between industry and academic leaders within the
state of Georgia.We must implement technology and emphasize math, science and creative thought processing so our high-tech companies never have to import our scientists and engineers from outside of the US, and the top talent coming from our higher
education system remains here. Utilizing existing technology, we can improve educational opportunities by accessing knowledge & effective teaching systems that already exist. We have talent here in Georgia; education is the key to unlocking that talent.
Source: 2014 Georgia gubernatorial campaign website, AndrewHunt.us
Aug 31, 2014
Page last updated: Aug 12, 2018