15 Progressive Bills would Cost Rhode Islanders over Six BILLION Dollars

PROGRESSIVE TIDAL WAVE of New Costs ?

Opportunities for Rhode Island families to move up the income ladder and achieve a better quality of life would be threatened if the progressive-left’s agenda were to be fully implemented. Already drowning from a 45th rank in business climate and overall family prosperity, Ocean Staters would be asked to bear a tidal wave of new costs — totaling multiple billions annually — in order to fund the legislative vision of the state’s progressive-Democrat wing.

According to research released today by the RI Center for Freedom and Prosperity, potential increased costs of $6 BILLION per year would be heaped upon our state’s families and businesses — via tax hikes, higher ratepayer fees, and new employer mandates — if just 15 bills that are now on a path in the General Assembly were taken up again in future years and became law. Such added government-imposed burdens would run counter to productive reforms in other states … and would create new barriers to job creation, while reducing disposable income for virtually every Rhode Islander.

Already suffering from a serious out-migration problem in our state, taxpayers, residents, and business owners should be alarmed that the wave of intrusive bills introduced in 2017 … in the areas of healthcare, business regulation, energy, and education … would likely sweep away even more Rhode Islanders into other states.

The most onerous piece of legislation is a proposed single-payer healthcare system, sponsored by progressive-Democrat activist Representative Aaron Regunberg. In ceding management of the state’s entire healthcare insurance to an overly politicized and incompetent government bureaucracy, this one piece of legislation alone would heap about $5,403,000,000 per year in new costs on taxpayers.

Rhode Islanders need a credible alternative to the status quo and its destructive progressive ideas. You can help.

The second biggest burden of the progressive bills, would be a $391,200,000 annual burden on employers under a $15.00 minimum wage mandate, as proposed by Representative Marcia Ranglin-Vessel, also a member of the progressive-Democrat caucus.

The third most costly bill, which will be considered next month when the General Convenes in a rare September session, is the controversial and high-profile paid-time-off mandate, also sponsored by Regunberg, which would add a $48,713,985 burden on employers.

Consistent with past trends, bills often take years to work their way through the internal politics of the General Assembly. Carbon tax and other energy-related legislation that would raise energy rates on everyone, “fairness” taxes on investment managers, affordable housing incentives, and a statewide charter-school tax … make up some of the other most costly and misguided bills.