Cuccinelli’s positions on business issues

Published September 27, 2013 by Virginia Business

Jobs and the economy

• Reduce the individual income tax rate from 5.75 percent to 5 percent.
• Reduce the business income tax from 6 percent to 4 percent.
• Establish a Small Business Tax Relief Commission.
• Seek ways to eliminate or reduce the negative effects of the Business Professional Occupational License tax, the machine tool tax and the merchants’ capital tax — while maintaining local tax revenue.
• Ensure that state government growth does not exceed inflation plus population growth.

Workforce development

• Broaden K-12 STEM curriculum.
• Fill funding gaps to help unemployed or under-employed men, women and veterans earn certification in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and/or STEM-H (health) programs in counties with unemployment rates of 7 percent or higher.
• Create a K-12 engineering endorsement for Virginia high school teacher licensure.
• Increase the percentage of female students completing K-12 STEM-H programs to 50 percent by 2020 and initiate a public-private partnership with existing programs that will brand and market inspirational messaging and resources to empower young women and parents to pursue these career and degree pathways.
• Reform community college career readiness programs to include business community input beyond board level into curriculum and expand internships with local businesses.
• Reform veteran training, education and employment services to reduce the unemployment rate of veterans.