Scott Walker Column: Here's how we can grow 250,000 jobs in Wisconsin (Appleton Post-Crescent)

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By Scott Walker

When we put our faith back in the people of Wisconsin, instead of the government, anything is possible.

Last month, I introduced an ambitious six-point plan to create 250,000 jobs that focuses on getting government out of the way of the people. Immediately, the naysayers went on the attack, saying it couldn't be done, and that we've set our sights too high. But unlike my opponents, I believe in the people of Wisconsin.

Through ingenuity, hard work and determination, our people have made Wisconsin a great place to live, work and raise a family. Our companies are recognized as world leaders in everything from manufacturing motorcycles to brewing beer.

Wisconsin once led the nation in reform. In fact, during Gov. Tommy Thompson's first term, Wisconsin added 258,000 jobs when he made it easier to do business in our state. We can do this again.

Wisconsin workers and families are facing tough times. Our state lost 163,000 good-paying jobs last year alone, and today, nearly one in 10 people in Wisconsin are out of work, while thousands more are underemployed or have given up on finding family supporting jobs.

The status quo is unacceptable, and until we take immediate and significant action to turn around the devastating policies of the past eight years, Wisconsin will continue to lag near the bottom in rankings for job growth.

We cannot just tinker around the edges. It will take dramatic reform to bring 250,000 jobs to Wisconsin. Our plan is clear:

1. Lower the burden of high taxes: I want to lower the tax on employers, lower the tax on income, freeze property taxes and phase out retirement income taxes. States that have a lower tax burden have more jobs and better budgets, and it's time Wisconsin was a better state to do business.

2. Reduce excessive regulations: State agencies should be more responsive to the customer, standards must be science-based and predictable, and agencies must balance efforts to protect our natural resources with the need to protect our jobs, too.

3. Eliminate frivolous lawsuits: We need to do more to reduce the cost of litigation, and we need true tort reform to help lower health care costs.

4. A quality education for our future workforce: We need a strong education system with more accountability and better tools to prepare our children for work by utilizing methods to improve public schools and supporting charter, private and home-school opportunities. We should also give our UW System the tools to operate more like a business to pursue economic development.

5. Reduce health care costs: We need to help afford the costs of providing health care through market-driven strategies and not government mandates. That means eliminating the state tax on health savings accounts. It means full disclosure on medical procedures. And it means helping employers tap into larger purchasing pools to share the risk.

6. Strong infrastructure: Reliable energy sources and dependable transportation links are the final piece to our plan. Our employers need a reliable and clean source of power for our factories, mills and farms. We also need a dependable system of roads and highways to get products to market.

When we reduce the cost of doing business, we'll help our employers create more jobs in Wisconsin.

Government can partner with employers to encourage job growth, like we've done in Milwaukee County. For example, we worked with GE to relocate its $85 million new facility to the Milwaukee County Research Park, bringing more than 2,000 jobs with it.

Our investment in infrastructure at the Mitchell International Airport helped bring more than a thousand new jobs from Republic Airlines, Air Tran and Southwest. In January, we saw a 43 percent increase in passengers at Mitchell, which means more growth — and more jobs.

In contrast, Gov. Jim Doyle and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett still put their faith in the government to create jobs. They believe large government programs, like building a high-speed train between Madison and Milwaukee, will get our jobs back. It costs $810 million and creates only 55 jobs. I know we can do better.

We can turn things around if we follow what I call my "Brown Bag Guide to Government" — Don't spend more than you have, smaller government is better government, and people create jobs, not government. These principles are embodied in my six-point plan.

Following this guide, we can make Wisconsin the most attractive place in a competitive world to start or grow a business. By putting our faith back in the people, not the government, we can remove barriers to economic growth by lowering taxes, reducing runaway government spending, improving education and putting an end to excessive regulation.

Once we succeed, the economic growth that follows will bring 250,000 jobs to Wisconsin, and get our state back to work.