Originally prepared for "The Level Playing Field," a special presentation of The Koolau News. This piece was to be published Sunday, Sept. 1 (Week 5 of 7).

The economy of Hawaii is, perhaps, the most important issue of the upcoming elections. We are counting on an economic improvement to sustain our way of life and our state itself.

We know from developments in mainland states in the 1990's that lowering taxes boosts total tax revenues, raising taxes reduces total tax revenues. California in 1991 raised taxes to cover half of a $15 billion shortfall, and a year later the revenue taken from the higher taxes was the same it had been the year before California raised taxes. Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and other states acted under GOP governors succeeding Democratic governors to lower taxes, and all states saw total revenue rise the next year as a result of tax cuts.

Therefore, I would not raise taxes to deal with a revenue shortfall, but lower them instead to boost economic activity. Best taxes to lower - those that most affect working people who need to spend to survive. One of my top priorities is to eliminate the general excise tax (GET) on food sold in stores, rent, and medical services and products. These are life's basic necessities, and we should not tax our residents for the "privilege" of eating, seeking shelter, and getting sick. By lowering taxes, we help people spend, people will spend, and the spending will generate more revenue for the state.

Our government needs to take the necessary steps to improve relations with businesses so we can improve our economy on that front as well. This means changing some of the burdensome regulations and policies of governing business and making it more appealing for businesses to start up in Hawaii. Lawmakers need to have a more pro-business attitude to be effective in making good changes and counter Hawaii's reputation for treating business as an opponent rather than a partner. We can lure more bees with honey, and this is how we should approach our relationship between business and government.

Another sizable problem to address is the overgrown, bloated government we have established for ourselves. As I have stated before, a government must be run efficiently to be effective. We need to have candidates in office who are willing to put forth the effort to run governmental programs in a cost-effective manner and stop the waste of funds. In tough times, we all know what it means to cut back expenses, yet our government continues to grow, authorizing additional 1,500 positions, increasing taxes by $100 million or about $240 for the average family per year, at a time when we should be living within our means. We cannot make mistakes in the handling of the budget and then run to our special funds, such as the Hurricane Relief Fund, to make up for it. We need to have officials who will be aware of the consequences of all their actions and look ahead as they work.

We need a smaller state force. We can do more with less. I would not fire a single state government employee, but would keep vacant positions vacant, and take them off the books. We can save at least $80 million a year this way. We can cut non-essential backroom services, and transfer the people working these jobs to the front line. We can eliminate a lot of waste by awarding contracts solely on merit. We can privatize functions the private sector can do better, and watch government workers fill the new private sector jobs. We can pay our smaller, nobody-gets-fired workforce more, and it is win-win for everyone concerned.

Other areas - agriculture, trade, technology, etc. - of our economy are just as important and we need a strategic focus for our economic engines like tourism, what we do best. For a population of over 1 million to be host to over 5 million guests per year requires industry, government, and community strategies or the overload will manifest itself in deterioration. With industry, government, and community officials collectively working together and investing our time, attention, and resources in restoring economic vitality, we can realize a vision of prosperity for everyone's benefit.

Our greatest asset at this point is knowing that our potential for economic development is immense. We all recognize this, and we need leaders who are not afraid to take bold steps to help us realize this vision. It's imperative to take action and elect leaders who will work to reverse the languishing trend of our economy and our state and we need to do it now.