William M Taggart IV

[{"question": "Ballotpedia survey responses", "answer_html": "<p>See also: <a href=\"/Ballotpedia%27s_Candidate_Connection\">Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection</a></p>\n<div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-xs-10 col-md-6 col-xs-offset-1 col-md-offset-3\"><p><a href=\"https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia%27s_Candidate_Connection\"><img align=\"middle\" alt=\"Candidate Connection\" src=\"https://cdn.ballotpedia.org/images/8/88/Candidate_Connection_Logo.png\" width=\"90%\"/></a></p></div></div>\n<p>William Taggart completed <a href=\"/Ballotpedia%27s_Candidate_Connection\">Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection</a> survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Taggart's responses.</p>\n<p><span class=\"expand-all\">Expand all</span> | <span class=\"collapse-all\">Collapse all</span></p>\n<div aria-multiselectable=\"true\" class=\"panel-group\" id=\"accordion\" role=\"tablist\"><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse-key-message-389370-2025-12-18\" id=\"heading-key-message-389370-2025-12-18\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse-key-message-389370-2025-12-18\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse-key-message-389370-2025-12-18\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tPlease list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading-key-message-389370-2025-12-18\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse-key-message-389370-2025-12-18\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><ul><li>National Debt - We are bogged down in culture war issues when we have much more important items that need to be addressed. The national debt has risen from $5.7 trillion in 2000 to $38.4 trillion and is continuing to rise. These are levels of debt like we had after World War II compared to the economy. At the same time, people making less than $200,000 per year are paying more in taxes than their grandparents, while people making more than $500,000 per year are paying a lot less. Spending cuts are required, but won’t balance the budget, we need to raise taxes on the wealthy and large corporations to stop this increasing debt before it breaks our economy.</li><li>Healthcare – Americans spend more on healthcare and get worse outcomes than other first world countries. US health insurance companies have 20% overhead when Medicare and foreign health systems are less than 5%. Private Equity is buying up providers, reducing the number of hospitals and clinics in regions limiting competition. While the US drug market is the Wild Wild West for pharmaceuticals to charge as much as they want. \r\nWe need to establish Health Savings Accounts that leverage Medicare negotiated rates with pharmacies, doctors, and hospitals. A public option to provide simple low-cost insurance to people and provide competition to private insurance.</li><li>Energy – US oil fields are beginning to plateau in their production. At the same time, natural gas power plants are in construction while we ship more US natural gas overseas from LNG export terminals. Data centers are being built at a rapid pace, demanding more electricity. We are creating an energy crisis due to bad policy. Republicans block wind farms and solar, while Democrats give away tax credits when we have massive national debt. \r\n\r\nWe need an all of the above approach that does not involve increasing the national debt. We need to tax hydrocarbons, wind, and solar to fund building transmission lines and energy storage to increase the reliability of our electrical grid.</li></ul></span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse1-389370-2025-12-18\" id=\"heading1-389370-2025-12-18\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse1-389370-2025-12-18\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse1-389370-2025-12-18\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tWhat areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading1-389370-2025-12-18\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse1-389370-2025-12-18\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tHidden at the heart of our culture war issues, is the changing demographics of America. Over the last seventy years America has changed, and we are struggling with those changes. The loss of wealth in America’s middle class, the increasing diverse racial profile, the decline in social institutions, and rise of social media have revealed the age and limitations of a Constitution that has not evolved to keep up. The Constitution defines the system of American government and that system has not adapted to the changing demographics. We need a re-engineering of our governmental systems that both the far right and far left have stressed and cracked.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div></div>\n<div class=\"small\" data-nosnippet=\"\"><p><i><b>Note:</b> Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.</i></p></div>", "answer_text": "See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection\n\nWilliam Taggart completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Taggart's responses.\nExpand all | Collapse all\nPlease list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office? National Debt - We are bogged down in culture war issues when we have much more important items that need to be addressed. The national debt has risen from $5.7 trillion in 2000 to $38.4 trillion and is continuing to rise. These are levels of debt like we had after World War II compared to the economy. At the same time, people making less than $200,000 per year are paying more in taxes than their grandparents, while people making more than $500,000 per year are paying a lot less. Spending cuts are required, but won’t balance the budget, we need to raise taxes on the wealthy and large corporations to stop this increasing debt before it breaks our economy. Healthcare – Americans spend more on healthcare and get worse outcomes than other first world countries. US health insurance companies have 20% overhead when Medicare and foreign health systems are less than 5%. Private Equity is buying up providers, reducing the number of hospitals and clinics in regions limiting competition. While the US drug market is the Wild Wild West for pharmaceuticals to charge as much as they want. \r\nWe need to establish Health Savings Accounts that leverage Medicare negotiated rates with pharmacies, doctors, and hospitals. A public option to provide simple low-cost insurance to people and provide competition to private insurance. Energy – US oil fields are beginning to plateau in their production. At the same time, natural gas power plants are in construction while we ship more US natural gas overseas from LNG export terminals. Data centers are being built at a rapid pace, demanding more electricity. We are creating an energy crisis due to bad policy. Republicans block wind farms and solar, while Democrats give away tax credits when we have massive national debt. \r\n\r\nWe need an all of the above approach that does not involve increasing the national debt. We need to tax hydrocarbons, wind, and solar to fund building transmission lines and energy storage to increase the reliability of our electrical grid. What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about? Hidden at the heart of our culture war issues, is the changing demographics of America. Over the last seventy years America has changed, and we are struggling with those changes. The loss of wealth in America’s middle class, the increasing diverse racial profile, the decline in social institutions, and rise of social media have revealed the age and limitations of a Constitution that has not evolved to keep up. The Constitution defines the system of American government and that system has not adapted to the changing demographics. We need a re-engineering of our governmental systems that both the far right and far left have stressed and cracked.\nNote: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it."}]