By: Beth Sitzler, Las Cruces Bulletin

Link: http://tiny.cc/lascrucesbulletin

With the economy and housing market suffering, now is the time to create jobs, said congressional candidate Steve Pearce to members of the Building Industry Association of Southern New Mexico Thursday, June 17.

Pearce, who is seeking to regain his former seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, spoke to the association during its monthly luncheon about the issues he said are important to southern New Mexico.

“The election coming up is a historic election,” he said. “We are discovering again that government isn’t the solution, government is the problem.”

One way, he said, the government is impeding the economy is by increasing taxes, which in turn causes local businesses to cut employees.

“At a time when we are trying to create jobs, the government is talking about tax increases,” he said. “Tax increases kill jobs.”

He added that once government officials understand that tax cuts help promote business growth, and therefore create jobs, then economic conditions in the country and state will improve.

While recent tax incentives have helped part of the economy, Pearce said they won’t create the jobs needed to improve the economy.

“Jobs are created one way,” he said, “through capital from investments.”

Pearce added that the U.S. government is enacting regulations that make it difficult for many industries to survive.

“Capital moves to the best sources,” he said. “The U.S. is taking capital andpushing it out.”

Regulations imposed by the government and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are making it difficult for those in the dairy, logging and oil industries, especially since industry mandates are constantly changing, costing those businesses thousands of dollars.

“We may lose 30 to 40 percent of our dairies because the EPA changes the rules yearly,” he said. “We’re going to kill more jobs into Mexico.

“Companies need predictability.”

Pearce said the logging industry in New Mexico has suffered partly because protection of the spotted owl restricts cutting trees, which is not only decreasing jobs, but also safety, since larger forest fires may result from forest overgrowth.

When regulations restrict industry, the public must make up for the money that is lost through increased taxes, Pearce said.

“We’re regulating ourselves out of business, and we’re taxing ourselves out of business,” he said.

Government programs, such as Medicaid, are also causing problems because fraud is prevalent and costs citizens additional tax money.

“Government shouldn’t be in business because the government never goes broke, it just raises taxes,” he said. “We must live within our economic laws. At some point, we can’t do it.”

Pearce said the economy can’t be boosted through new taxes, but rather growth and moving capital back into job sector.

“It’s a choice,” he said. “Right now we’re choosing to move away from prosperity, and we may not be able to come back from it.

“At what point do we say we’ve killed enough jobs?” he asked.

Another factor Pearce said he thinks is harming businesses is federal health care reform.

“A major problem is it’s a tax,” he said. “Business owners will have to cut employees to be able to pay it.”

Some amendments to the bill that Pearce said will make it more efficient would be making it portable – meaning a person owns their insurance, not the company they work for – and allowing shopping to take place across state lines as well as supplying more preventative medicines.

As for increasing jobs and growth in New Mexico, Pearce said one way to do so is through a green economy.

“New Mexico should be a leader in every form of energy,” he said. “We need to get in on the manufacturing end of it. We have huge potential.”

He said he is in favor of rebates that will encourage those in green energy – such as solar, geothermal and biomass – to relocate to the state and region.

Lastly, Pearce discussed the growing concern about border security and immigration.

“No. 1 we need to secure the border, and No. 2 we need to fix legal immigration,” he said. “We have to do that simultaneously.”

He said by creating a process that addresses legal immigration in a fair and orderly fashion, the number of those crossing illegally will decrease.

Ultimately, Pearce said change to these and other issues must come from the public.

“I believe one person can make a difference, but you have to be in the game,” he said.