Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley capped off a packed two-day campaign tour in New Hampshire on Friday by unveiling a major financial overhaul plan for the federal government to create what she called a national renaissance of the American dream.
Under The Freedom Plan, she would use her veto power as president to reject any spending bills by Congress that don’t work towards returning the national budget back to pre-COVID spending levels, Ms. Haley told her audience at St. Anselm College’s New Hampshire Institute of Politics in Manchester.
Her plan would also include slashing corporate and foreign subsidies, including the $500 billion in green subsidies currently paid to countries like China under the Biden administration. She plans to recoup another $500 billion in unspent COVID-19 funds she said were allocated by both Democrats and Republicans under the $2.2 trillion relief plan “without any accountability.”
The former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and South Carolina governor remains a contender in the 2024 Republican Primary race led by former President Donald Trump. A recent CNN survey said Ms. Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy have surpassed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in New Hampshire, a key early primary state.
To put more money in the pockets of working American taxpayers, Ms. Haley, who has an accounting degree, proposed the elimination of the 18 cents per gallon of gas and 24 cents per gallon of diesel motorists pay at the pump in federal taxes.
She also called for a shift in the tax burden from middle-class families to wealthy taxpayers, with the specific aim of reforming the use of the SALT (state and federal) deduction.
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Under her plan, taxpayers could deduct up to $10,000 paid in property, sales, or income taxes. According to the Tax Foundation, 91 percent of those who claim the SALT deduction have an annual income of more than $100,000.
In what she recognized as a politically difficult topic to tackle, Ms. Haley also is calling for significant Social Security and Medicare reform, including increasing the retirement age for taxpayers who have recently reached the age of majority. With a few exceptions, most states have set the age of majority at 18.
“Americans are living fifteen years longer than they were in the 1930s,” said Ms. Haley. “If we don’t get out of the twentieth-century mindset, Social Security and Medicare won’t survive the first half of the twenty-first century.
Ms. Haley said she would lobby for term limits for elected officials, and also for government administrators to end “power fiefdoms that corrupt our government.”
“Public service is a privilege, not a right,” she said. “And no one has a right to roll back your freedom.”
After hearing her speak, friends Denise Sherwood and Anne Dalton, both of Manchester, told The Epoch Times, that it would “be a shame” if Ms. Haley was not elected the next President of the United States.
“Her accomplishments are impressive,” said Mrs. Sherwood. “We need her. I feel she’s the one that America has been waiting for.”
Before serving two terms as governor, Ms. Haley put her degree to good use working as an accountant for her family’s business. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Clemson University, a public college in South Carolina.
Ms. Haley is also the first female of Indian descent to ever be elected governor. During her administration, South Carolina was dubbed the “Beast of the Southeast” for having one of the lowest U.S. unemployment rates as well as being one of the fastest in economic growth.
She resigned as governor in 2017 when President Trump tapped her to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to the UN.
While remaining a Trump fan, Mrs. Sherwood believes it is time for him to step aside and support Ms. Haley. She doesn’t fault the former president for the controversies that plague his candidacy, but she believes they are “in the way” and “not going away anytime soon enough” to help what she called a very troubled country.
Mrs. Dalton added that Ms. Haley’s hyper-focus on stopping China on its path to displace America especially “hits home with her.”
Ms. Haley is “the whole package,” said Rick Thomas of Hollis, New Hampshire, who waited in line after her speech for an autograph for his 7-year-old daughter.
“The ambassador is an incredible example of a strong and smart woman,” Mr. Thomas told The Epoch Times. “I will definitely be voting for her.”
Another supporter, Deborah Brown, had undergone dialysis earlier in the day as part of her battle with Stage 5 kidney failure. She went to see Ms. Haley on Thursday at a bed and breakfast in Hampton.
A lifelong Democrat, whose father worked on John F. Kennedy’s campaign and the campaign of Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, Mrs. Brown is also a retired schoolteacher. She told The Epoch Times she is looking for a candidate who can show just how “crazy radicalized” the world has become.
The Democrats accuse Republicans of banning books,“ said Mrs. Brown. ”They are not burning books, they are banning sexually explicit material.”
Mrs. Brown said Haley seems to be the only Republican Presidential candidate who is making it a top commitment to restore parental rights in schools.
“I can’t wait to see how she does in the next debate,” she said.
Many have hailed Mrs. Haley for her performance in the first GOP debate. She and other qualified candidates are slated to take the stage for a second debate on Sept. 27.
