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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]His policies will continue to discourage job creation in MD, especially relative to VA and DC.  Lack of jobs will reduces the county's tax base and hurts property values, which itself reduces tax revenues.

To continue with the current level of county spending, never mind all the new things Elrich wants, would require increases in tax rates to make up for the above.  And that, in return, will lead some of the wealthier county residents to move to VA or DC to avoid the higher tax burden in MoCo/MD.  While it is tempting to say good riddens and don't let the door hit your rear on the way out, if we lose wealthier residents we lose the tax revenue needed to fund all the things the county wants to provide

A death spiral is too dramatic, but if MoCo doesn't keep itself at least nominally competitive with the surrounding areas, it isn't going to be good for county residents -- rich or poor.  And the poor will probably suffer more because they can less easily just move across state lines.
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Good sounding answer to my question. (I’m OP). But what are these policies that will prevent job creation? Specifically? Where is Floreen different?[/quote]

NP here. Specifically:

- Elrich pushed hard for the $15/hour minimum wage increase, backed by unions. This is anti-business. Any business that can move part of their business out of MoCo will. It's just a few miles up 270 to Frederick County, that has a lower minimum wage. Imagine if you're a HVAC or plumbing business -- move a few miles from Gaithersburg to Frederick and now you're not forced to pay $15/hour even to the admin assistants.

If Elrich really cared about ensuring families had a living wage, he would have pushed to increased the EITC (earned income tax credit). That looks at family size and _total_ family income, and gives money to those who don't make a certain threshold. It's already in place in the Fed and MD tax system, so MoCo could just add a piggyback payment on to it.

Instead,  Elrich's minimum wage will make it difficult for people to get entry-level jobs. A 20 year old who wants their first job doesn't have the skills to earn $15/hr yet. Elrich has effectively locked them out of the MoCo labor market.

- Regulations. Bag tax. Plastic bags are bad for the environmnet so let's tax them. I sort of understand that, but why tax _paper_ bags also? They are typically made from 100% recycled paper, and are fully recyclable.

- One that came up this week -- banning smoking _outdoors_ in restaurants. Elrich wants to ban it. That's anti-business. Let the business decide if they want to ban smoking outdoors (on their patio) or not. If customers don't like the smoking, they will vote with their feet and the business may decide to ban it.. or vice versa. We don't need regulations for this.

- Elrich's ideas on transportation. He's basically ignored upcounty (Clarksburg, Germantown, etc) and his solution to the traffic problems is to make a reversible lane on I-270 and add in BRT (buses). Upcounty is way spread out -- buses won't work effectively. 270 needs to be widened. Businesses need this -- this is a main artery connecting MoCo to major transportion hubs, like Hagerstown and Parkersburg (huge logistics centers).

There's more.. but that's just a start.[/quote]

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