LISTEN: Huntsman Talks Taxes In New Hampshire

RINDGE, N.H. — With 13-percent support from likely New Hampshire voters in a recent Suffolk University poll, an invigorated Jon Huntsman hawked his plans for tax reform and jobs to New Hampshire voters.

The former Ambassador to China said during a townhall event Monday that in order to create jobs, the U.S. must reduce taxes.

“You have to fix the taxes. I put in a flat tax in Utah and we had the most business-friendly environment in the country, so says Forbes and Business Week,” Huntsman said.

“Then you let the marketplace decide.”

Huntsman trotted out a familiar line, telling audience members that during the last two years of his full term as Utah governor, Utah led the nation in job creation.

Huntsman’s position papers on the economic issues talk about the Utah flat tax he was able to get through the legislature.

In an interview after the event, Huntsman was more reflective when asked about the current tax debate on Capitol Hill. He admitted that getting a flat tax through Congress would be difficult. But, he said, he’d rely on support from constituents to pressure their elected officials into backing the move.

“The flat tax isn’t on the table yet, but when you’re first elected president you have the will of the people.”

“At least for the first year and a half, you have the good will of the Congress, that’s when you get things done,” Huntsman added.

However, he was sharply critical of his former boss when he was Ambassador to China, President Barack Obama.

“This president for the first year and a half had the kind of leverage needed to get things done. That’s gone,” he said.

An Associated Press poll released Friday says that 52-percent of voters believe that Obama does not deserve a second term in office.

In the remainder of his presentation, Huntsman touched on social security, the United States’ considerable natural gas reserves and the need for the nation to become energy independent.

TRNS’s Michael Carl has more on the story:

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