Home » Benedetti Jr. Announces Policy Platform for Assembly Seat

Benedetti Jr. Announces Policy Platform for Assembly Seat

by Community Contributor

Long-time Ewing School Board Member and candidate for 15th District General Assembly Carl Benedetti Jr. announced the introduction of his policy platform this month.

“I’m proud to say, after careful consideration of the issues affecting our towns, Mercer County, and New Jersey at large, that I support Governor Murphy’s progressive agenda for the State,” Benedetti began.

“Furthermore, as your next Assemblyman, I’ve resolved to work closely with him and my colleagues in the Legislature, on a number of issues I believe are intrinsically related to our most pressing issues, namely the expansion and equalization of educational opportunities, development of small businesses and new incentives for their growth, and responsible fiscal management that ensures all residents pay their fair share – no more, no less.”

“The educational disparities common of New Jersey are on display in the 15th District: while our suburban municipalities offer world-class public education, our urban center – Trenton – suffers from a severe lack of resources that leaves students without the modern education they deserve.”

“While I applaud recent efforts at equalizing funding across districts, which provided Trenton with an additional 5% in funding, that’s simply not enough. More needs to be done across the board. More investment in education – be it for primary public schools, vocational institutions, or colleges and universities – means more opportunity for our students, more long-term growth for our tax base, and the sustained health of our economy,” Benedetti said.

“Sustained economic growth similarly depends the vitality of small businesses: more than fifty percent of employees in the United States are employed by one. In the 15th District, we have a really vibrant range of locally-based, locally-owned businesses, one of which I am proud to manage.”

“While the State and County offer a wide range of information and benefits to new business owners, especially those located in Trenton, we should investigate strategically expanding those benefits to promote ownership amongst non-traditional owners, including minorities, youth, women, and LGBT individuals, regardless of where they reside.”

“Additionally, we need to do away with advanced corporate welfare, replacing it with wide-ranging, scaled programs: the long-term benefit of direct investment in small businesses and, by extension, the communities in which they reside, does far more than the benefit of attracting a single corporate partner.”

“Finally, we need to focus on careful fiscal management, and creating new revenue streams where appropriate, in order to offset rising costs of providing additional programming to New Jersey’s citizens. Recently, Senate President Sweeney argued that ‘New Jersey doesn’t have a money problem, it has a spending problem.’ Respectfully, I disagree with that notion: as the most densely populated State in the country, with some of the strongest public systems available in the U.S., and with those offerings constantly expanding, we cannot squander opportunities to enact strong tax policies, like a Millionaire’s Tax with a threshold of $1 million in annual income, and establish robust revenue generators, as would happen with the legalization of marijuana,” Benedetti explained.

“We need to refocus our budgetary priorities in such a way that provides relief for middle- and working-class people in our State, rather than one that shamelessly protects high income earners at the expense of everyone else. We need to establish new incentives for small business development, and ensure that all individuals have equality of access to those incentives, to ensure economic development and job growth for years to come. Most importantly, we need to invest in the long-term health of our economy and society, by providing our students with well-equipped, affordable public schools from Kindergarten through Graduate education, and ensuring that alternatives, including vocational education, are available. I look forward to promoting these goals, among others as they arise, as the next Assemblyman from the 15th District.”

*Submitted by Carl Benedetti’s Campaign for NJ Assembly

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