Some people have questioned exactly how Mike is planning on reducing the burden on the taxpayers while at the same time raising money necessary to balance the state budget. This is a perfectly valid question. Anybody trying to decide who to vote for should be asking this question.

The answer boils down to simple economic principles involving the number of taxpayers and how much each taxpayer must pay. Currently, most politicians view the number of taxpayers as a constant. In this scenario, the only way to increase tax revenue is to increase the amount of taxes each taxpayer must pay.

Mike’s solution is to increase the number of taxpayers. If you increase taxpayers, then each taxpayer is responsible for less. How do you increase the number of taxpayers? Provide jobs. When you get more people working, you can raise more money with each person paying a smaller percentage of their earnings. Consider the following simplified illustration:

The best part of this is that Mike’s promise to bring jobs into KY is anything but lip service. As a private citizen, he has been working to bring jobs to the area since he left Atlanta to move back home. Despite his struggles to find steady work upon returning to the mountains, Mike continuously gave work to local people whenever possible. Whenever Mike benefited, so did those around him.

To scale his efforts to bring work to KY, Mike has several strategies that will certainly lead to employment opportunities for thousands of Kentuckians. Firstly, Mike will take measures to make KY, and especially Eastern KY, an Information Technology (IT) powerhouse. The low cost of living means that IT professionals living in the area can make a good living while providing their services at a cost significantly below the national average. What this means is that work that used to be done in Cincinnati or New York will be done in KY.

Secondly, Mike will travel far and wide to court any and all types of businesses who may have an interest in coming to KY. All companies willing to employ folks, both foreign and domestic, will be aggressively sought out. Over time, high school and college graduates will no longer have to leave home to find work: Instead, they can find a job close to home.

Thirdly, Mike will work to reform existing tax laws such that small and medium-sized businesses can more easily expand. Mike ran a small contracting business for awhile and he knows all too well that taxes severely limited his expansion potential. Businesses are no different than individuals. If there are more businesses paying taxes, each will have to give less to the government but the government will still have the same amount of money to perform its functions.

Mike’s strategies aren’t a magic bullet. They will take time. Perhaps more important to realize is that they will take hard work on the part of legislatures and citizens alike. However, the strategies are built on solid reasoning and are doable. One thing’s for sure, Mike’s not afraid of hard work, especially since helping eastern Kentucky prosper is one of his life-long dreams.

I’m super excited to announce that my very good friend Mike Bryant is running for KY State Representative in the 91st District. Mike is a conservative Republican, but most importantly to me, he’s a great guy. I’m going to vote for him because I think he will fight tooth and nail to make things better in Breathitt, Estill, and Lee Counties. I can’t possibly do justice to how awesome Mike really is: You’d really just have to hang out with the guy. That being said, let me try to explain some of the reasons I think Mike is an excellent choice to represent us all.

I met Mike about four years ago at a Kiwanis meeting. He told me he was a software developer and I told him about my CIS background. He, for whatever reason, decided I might know what I was doing as a web developer and asked me if I wanted to do some programming work for him. A week later, I walk into his office, he briefs me on the project, and I was off to the races. And lucky for me, I was good enough, because Mike kept bringing me aboard for more and more projects (which we completed quite successfully I might add). The important thing here is that Mike believed in me and gave me a chance. Mike is willing to give anybody a chance if they are willing to work. He has literally employed six local guys to work with him on projects in the short time I’ve known him! How could you go wrong with a guy like that?

Mike is serious about bringing jobs to the area. He attends regional development meetings frequently. It can’t be said that he hasn’t tried to bring opportunities to the area: I’ve been in the room several times when he’s been on the phone with companies who are looking to relocate to Breathitt County. It’s true that none of them have actually relocated here (because of lack of effort from others involved), but the point is, plain-ol’-private-citizen Mike has been trying to develop the area since I’ve known him. I’ve literally witnessed his attempts myself. As a Representative of District 91, I guarantee that Mike wouldn’t rest until he brought jobs to the area.

Because I know Mike to be a genuine, hard-working person who honestly wants to see Eastern Kentucky prosper, it is without reservation that I hope Mike Bryant becomes the next KY State Representative in District 91.