By VICKI URBANIK

Gubernatorial candidate Jill Long Thompson said the way to grow Indiana’s economy isn’t through “one-time giveaways” but by adopting a broad-based strategy that recognizes how tax, education, and health care policies affect business growth and retention.

Long Thompson, a former member of Congress and former U.S. Under Secretary of Agriculture for Rural Development, outlined her economic plan during a media stop at the Chesterton Tribune Thursday. The Democrat’s visit was one of several media stops in Northwest Indiana this week and represented the second time in a month that she’s been in Chesterton.

Long Thompson, who holds a MBA and Ph.D. in business and once served on the Valparaiso City Council, cited reports that most job creation comes from existing businesses that expand. She said it’s important to attract new businesses to Indiana, but that the state needs to do more to strengthen those already here. She said she would move away from the Daniels’ administration’s approach to economic development, which she ripped as one that “rewards companies for bringing in low-paying, dead-end jobs that don’t offer benefits.”

“Politicans don’t get as much splash” when focusing on existing businesses, she said. “But for me, it’s not about splash. It’s about growing Indiana’s economy.”

Her strategy, dubbed “Reinvest in Indiana,” focuses on three main areas -- tax, education and health care -- and said each issue is just as important to economic growth as infrastructure and economic development programs.

Long Thompson, who faces Jim Schellinger in the May 6 Democratic primary, said Daniels’ “one business at a time” approach isn’t working. She said she opposes “tax abatement giveaways,” which she said often put more burden on existing businesses.

She called it unacceptable that Hoosiers make 90 cents on the dollar relative to the rest of the nation and that the state’s high school drop out rate has not been decreasing, as in many other states, but has been climbing and now stands at 32 percent. When asked how she would respond to critics who might say that Indiana is not unlike any other state since the entire country is in an economic slump, Long Thompson noted that Daniels, as former director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Bush, established many of the very fiscal policies that the country is now dealing with.

She called for a major overhaul of Indiana’s tax system by focusing not just on property taxes but the entire tax structure. She said Daniels’ property tax proposal does not truly reform the system, but merely shifts more of the tax source to sales taxes. The plan, she said, will leave many communities with shortfalls in funds for public safety, while placing more of the overall tax burden on lower and moderate earners.

“That’s not how you reform taxes. We must look at the overall structure,” she said, adding that Indiana should not just “tinker” with the system as it’s been doing.

Among the specific tax changes she supports are providing more aggressive depreciation schedules for businesses, permanent individual tax deductions to offset the cost of health care and continuing education, and writing into the state’s tax code expanded tax incentives for businesses that provide health coverage, acquire new technology, improve productivity and reduce environmental impacts. In particular, she called for incentives for telecommunications companies to expand broadband and high-speed internet access in every county.

On education, Long Thompson said she would be a leader in state-led reform of the No Child Left Behind Act, saying that its focus on overall test scores rather than on the individual student has taken away flexibility for schools.

She also said Indiana needs to re-emphasize vocational education and prepare high school graduates for the workforce. She called for providing incentives for students to achieve associate degrees at community colleges and expanding the number of course credits transferable to any Indiana four-year institution. Her support for expanded voc-ed programs also includes adult education, she said. “I’m a strong advocate for adult ed education and for continuing education.”

On health care, Long Thompson called for tax incentives for businesses that provide health care for employees as well as a change in state law to require insurers offer health insurance pools. She said whether businesses participate in the bulk buying programs would be entirely up to them.

When asked where she stands on one issue of regional interest -- the South Shore extension -- Long Thompson said she firmly supports the South Shore and said that it will be easier to stimulate economic growth through access to the Chicago job market. But she also conceded that, other than tapping federal funds for the $1 billion project, finding a suitable funding source is “the challenge.”

Posted 3/7/2008