Ben Koppelman

My over 20 years of business experience as well as by 16 years of service in elected office.

• Legislative property tax reform and relief

• Improving civil discourse amongst legislators, lobbyists and the general public

• Right sizing our government spending to ensure it is sustainable while at the same time being a low-tax and low regulation state

I think we have transitioned from a state that needed to encourage job creation so that our young people didn't leave to now being a state with not enough qualified people to work those jobs. We need to train our workforce for the jobs that need workers as well as import new workforce.

I think state funding can play a role in workforce, but not all money spent in this way in the past has been well spent. We need to assist the private sector with policies that can attract workforce to ND.

There is no simple answer to this question. I think the use of non-refundable tax credits as well as other incentives should be used sparingly. There are instances when they make sense, but they should be the exception and not the rule. We have to be careful to not have a business community that is unwilling to invest in their own businesses without government intervention or coercion.

I think this would be an appropriate area to consider the use of tax credits and possibly other incentives. We all need to be able to afford a place to live and work. I would want to be careful to try to not provide a subsidy that becomes a dis-incentive to individuals to eventually provide these things for themselves.

I have been a proponent of state funding for the Red river diversion, the red river valley water supply, as well as natural gas pipeline expansions. These are exampleas of projects that warrant government participation as they would likely not be attainable without a role for the state government. As for the airport, I frequently use it for travel. I appreciate that it is clean and convenient. However, I don't think that I have enough information to decide whether I support all proposed projects at this time.

I think first and foremost, the legacy fund should be used for projects that provide a legacy for most if not all North Dakotans. Things like property tax relief, income tax relief, major water/ flood projects, etc are examples of worthy uses. Other uses should be debated on their merits each session, but should not be automatic.

I support structural reform in the property tax system that hopefully would de-couple from valuation to provide an equitable and predictable tax burden. I think we also need to take a serious look at providing a very large reduction in residential taxes paid through a homestead tax credit for all primary residents. I intend to introduce these ideas next session.