Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley: on Corporations


Nikki Haley: Government makes it harder for struggling small business

[My mom's gift shop was] a small business trying to compete with giant departments stores. But I also noticed how hard it was to make a dollar and how easy it was for government to take it away. Government had its hands in literally every aspect of our business. Even as a teenager, that really bothered me. Government charged sales tax to our customers, it charged property tax on the building we were in, it taxed the equipment inside the building, and it charged us income tax on what we took in. We were struggling just to survive, and government was making it harder, not easier.

In that store, poring over those books, I learned lessons that shaped me for life. By virtue of hard work and sheer will, my mother built the gift shop in our living room into a multimillion-dollar high end clothing store. And I learned that small businesses like ours are the engines that create jobs and grow the economy. Government is the deadweight we all drag behind us.

Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p. 24-25 Apr 3, 2012

Nikki Haley: OpEd: Business-friendliness starts with competitive taxes

I hammered other issues as well, first and foremost jobs. South Carolina had 12% unemployment at the time. My mantra was "We can no longer pass government-friendly legislation: we need to pass business-friendly legislation." We needed to take better care of the 95% of our economy that was small businesses. I asked voters to put themselves in the shoes of a small-business owner: What would you look for before starting a business in South Carolina? We needed to create a more business-friendly environment, and that started with a good, competitive tax structure.

As an accountant, I could see that we had one of the most complicated, cobbled-together tax systems in the county. The Department of Revenue administered 32 taxes, but only 3 of them were responsible for over 90% of the state's revenue. The rest were just adding layers of bureaucracy and killing jobs.

Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.126 Apr 3, 2012

Nikki Haley: Government creates conditions; entrepreneurs create jobs

In my first 9 months as governor, we announced over 15,000 new jobs in South Carolina. I say "announced" because government doesn't create jobs. Government can only create the conditions that allow entrepreneurs to create jobs. South Carolina is a right-to-work state for precisely that purpose--we've seen the job-killing effects of forced-unions laws. I support keeping taxes low on individuals and small businesses because when businesses have extra cash they create jobs. I've fought Washington regulations, not out of ideology of politics but because they kill jobs.

If Congress and the president were serious about putting Americans back to work, they would declare a moratorium on new federal regulations immediately.

The government doesn't create jobs. The private sector creates jobs. The only thing government can do is influence the environment in which jobs will either be created or be destroyed.

Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.219 Apr 3, 2012

  • The above quotations are from Can't Is Not an Option
    My American Story
    by Gov. Nikki Haley.
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Candidates and political leaders on Corporations:

Retired Senate as of Jan. 2015:
GA:Chambliss(R)
IA:Harkin(D)
MI:Levin(D)
MT:Baucus(D)
NE:Johanns(R)
OK:Coburn(R)
SD:Johnson(D)
WV:Rockefeller(D)

Resigned from 113th House:
AL-1:Jo Bonner(R)
FL-19:Trey Radel(R)
LA-5:Rod Alexander(R)
MA-5:Ed Markey(D)
MO-9:Jo Ann Emerson(R)
NC-12:Melvin Watt(D)
SC-1:Tim Scott(R) 		Retired House to run for Senate or Governor:
AR-4:Tom Cotton(R)
GA-1:Jack Kingston(R)
GA-10:Paul Broun(R)
GA-11:Phil Gingrey(R)
HI-1:Colleen Hanabusa(D)
IA-1:Bruce Braley(D)
LA-6:Bill Cassidy(R)
ME-2:Mike Michaud(D)
MI-14:Gary Peters(D)
MT-0:Steve Daines(R)
OK-5:James Lankford(R)
PA-13:Allyson Schwartz(D)
TX-36:Steve Stockman(R)
WV-2:Shelley Capito(R) 		Retired House as of Jan. 2015:
AL-6:Spencer Bachus(R)
AR-2:Tim Griffin(R)
CA-11:George Miller(D)
CA-25:Howard McKeon(R)
CA-33:Henry Waxman(D)
CA-45:John Campbell(R)
IA-3:Tom Latham(R)
MN-6:Michele Bachmann(R)
NC-6:Howard Coble(R)
NC-7:Mike McIntyre(D)
NJ-3:Jon Runyan(R)
NY-4:Carolyn McCarthy(D)
NY-21:Bill Owens(D)
PA-6:Jim Gerlach(R)
UT-4:Jim Matheson(D)
VA-8:Jim Moran(D)
VA-10:Frank Wolf(R)
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Page last updated: Feb 19, 2019