Cliff Schorer says tax incentives to special interests should be eliminated.
Question: What's the problem with tax incentives?
Clifford Schorer: First of all, I'd like to see a lot of tax incentives eliminated because I think a lot of it's channeled to the wrong special interest groups and do very, very little to help small companies so that's a concern of mine, the oil companies getting breaks for thing, even tobacco farmers being subsidized. I think some of it is absurd. I'd love to see some of that money being channeled in to the entrepreneurial spirit that made this country great. I also think that we could solve a lot of major, major problems in this world by utilizing our government's ability to support things in a different manner. I'll give you an example. Let's say we — We're certainly having an energy crisis. Right. We're watching gasoline prices really impact the middle class and lower class in this country. It's devastating. I think a lot of people are actually charging on credit cards their gas and they're paying 18% interest and they're going to have a lot of problems. Why couldn't for example the United States government say, "Okay. Let's get our automobile manufacturers together. Let's calculate out things like if in three years no more than a four-cylinder engine could be used in any automobile," — calculate what it would cost in losses during that transition, put together a fund and say, "You know something? The government is going to create a research fund to help build more efficient automobiles and we'll supplement you and stabilize you during that period by giving you money to invest in technologies." Something like that to me would be addressing incentives, using government dollars towards improving the overall economy, but we don't seem to think that way and that troubles me.
Recorded on: 5/13/08
Question: What's the problem with tax incentives?
Clifford Schorer: First of all, I'd like to see a lot of tax incentives eliminated because I think a lot of it's channeled to the wrong special interest groups and do very, very little to help small companies so that's a concern of mine, the oil companies getting breaks for thing, even tobacco farmers being subsidized. I think some of it is absurd. I'd love to see some of that money being channeled in to the entrepreneurial spirit that made this country great. I also think that we could solve a lot of major, major problems in this world by utilizing our government's ability to support things in a different manner. I'll give you an example. Let's say we — We're certainly having an energy crisis. Right. We're watching gasoline prices really impact the middle class and lower class in this country. It's devastating. I think a lot of people are actually charging on credit cards their gas and they're paying 18% interest and they're going to have a lot of problems. Why couldn't for example the United States government say, "Okay. Let's get our automobile manufacturers together. Let's calculate out things like if in three years no more than a four-cylinder engine could be used in any automobile," — calculate what it would cost in losses during that transition, put together a fund and say, "You know something? The government is going to create a research fund to help build more efficient automobiles and we'll supplement you and stabilize you during that period by giving you money to invest in technologies." Something like that to me would be addressing incentives, using government dollars towards improving the overall economy, but we don't seem to think that way and that troubles me.
Recorded on: 5/13/08
