The third candidate for Governor who will appear on our ballots in November is Libertarian Cliff Hyra, age 34, a patent and trademark attorney. He is married and has three children with a fourth child to be born in August. He grew up in NOVA and now lives in Mechanicsville, his wife’s hometown. Hyra some very appealing views on a number of issues. From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:
“I feel strongly about empowering people to make their own choices,” he said, “because I care about other people and about our community and I fear the corrosive effects of a government that thinks that it knows what’s best for everybody and is prepared to force everyone to act accordingly.”
Like Republican candidate Ed Gillespie, Hyra supports school choice:
“I want to put choice and competition into the education system here in Virginia.”
Exactly. Competition always makes things better. It’s time America’s last monopoly ends. Hyra also believes in “the power of choice and competition to improve access and decrease costs” in health care.
Hyra proposes a rather substantial cut in taxes. From the Richmond-Times Dispatch:
On taxes, Hyra would exempt the first $60,000 of household income. On his campaign website, he says he would avoid the “massive marriage penalty” by allowing individuals to exempt $30,000. Taxable income above that would be taxed at a flat 5.75 percent.
He says the average household would pay no state income tax and would have a savings of $3,000 per year.
The math on how this large decrease in taxes would affect the Virginia budget is fuzzy. He’s working on it.
Hyra wants to legalize marijuana and tax it just as we do alcohol and tobacco.
Should Hyra be allowed to debate against Republican candidate Ed Gillespie and Democrat candidate Ralph Northam? I agree with Norman Leahy when he says “Let the Libertarian Debate”.
