Christopher is a lifelong resident of Taunton, and he currently serving his second term on the Taunton City Council. He is a United States Army veteran, serving 22 years, sixteen years of active duty, and six years in the Army Reserves, retiring with the rank of Master Sergeant. After his service, he and his wife, Kari Jackson Coute settled in Taunton.
PROTECTING YOUR TAX DOLLARS
SUSTAINING ECONOMIC VITALITY
KEEPING OUR KIDS A PRIORITY
Chris has long been a successful, local, multi-business owner, who knows what it is like to have to make payroll, and knows what it takes to turn a profit. Chris wants to use this breadth of knowledge he has acquired in the private sector and put it to use helping the hard-working families of Taunton and Easton, who now find themselves staring down at unprecedented and crushing inflation (especially for the essentials all citizens cannot do without, like, food, gas, and utilities). The combined rate for just these three things combined has risen 37% from last year. In addition, housing costs have become even more unaffordable, if that is possible, rising over 13% from last year. Chris supports the following measures that will help to give relief to all of us:
Suspend the Gasoline Tax Indefinitely to Offset Inflation
Suspend State Utility Taxes Indefinitely to Reduce Energy Costs
Remove Unnecessary and Burdensome Regulations to Keep Businesses Open
Push for Annual Tax Holidays Throughout the Year
Double the Dependent Care Tax Credit on income taxes so that families can get more back from their returns, which will help offset the damage caused by inflation.
Double the Senior Circuit Breaker Credit so senior homeowners can obtain some tax relief
Increase No Income Tax Status to $12,400 for single filers, $24,800 for joint filers, and $18,650 for head of households - eliminating the income tax for more than 234,000 low-income filers.
Small businesses are the backbone of our local economy and our country for that matter. If our small businesses are to remain in business, we will continue to create jobs, and better our communities in many ways. To help small businesses survive, and thrive, we need to implement the following:
Lower business tax rates
Encourage businesses to move to Massachusetts, especially in the Greater Taunton area. We have the roads and infrastructure to support much more commercial investment.
Support legislation that will make Massachusetts more business-friendly.
Do not make it harder for small businesses to succeed.
All of us have the right to live and work in a safe city or town. Unfortunately, over the last few years, there has been a misguided, and in many cases, a deliberate push to “reimagine” the role of law enforcement in society, and to frankly denigrate the Men and Women of Law Enforcement. The assault on law enforcement has been all-encompassing and sustained now for several years, and the results…..have been an unmitigated failure and disaster! Violent crime, murder, rape, assaults, gun violence, shoplifting, theft, etc… is up all over the country. And consequently, the constant disparaging talk directed towards law enforcement has had the net effect of leaving our ranks dangerously low. We now see a severe shortage of law enforcement personnel (in the field and at our academies). Ask yourself, who would want to sign up, when the profession as a whole, is attacked daily by extremists?My opponent has levied many of the same attacks on law enforcement. Equally troubling, she voted for the police reform bill and didn't even understand what she was voting for!A major flaw with that law is that there are not enough actual law enforcement professionals that make up the Police Officer Standards and Training Commission (POST), just bureaucrats who know what is best for all of us! This commission has also had meetings in secret, which has resulted in new policy. The actions of this Commission should be fully transparent to all, and not a secret commission that works under the cover of darkness. I also believe that law enforcement professionals - our police in uniform and respective Chiefs of Police - know what is best for our law enforcement agencies, not extremist politicians or other special interest groups. Let us leave the job of serving our communities and keeping us all safe, to actual Law Enforcement Professionals.As your State Representative, I will work tirelessly to make sure all necessary resources are available to our police departments so they can do what they do best - fight crime, get criminals off the street, and build a safer tomorrow for all of us.
Demand that the POST Commission meets in public and is subject to Massachusetts Open Meeting Law.
Increase state funding for the hiring of local police officers.
Create a hiring bonus for new police officers in the form of a payment or tax credit.
Invest in the best police training for all of our police departments in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Always be an advocate for Law Enforcement. Encourage the men and women of law enforcement, who as we know, have one of the hardest jobs imaginable.
As a Taunton City Councilor, I know that local government is the instrument that provides services and where the most savings for taxpayers can be realized. Unfortunately for years, the Democrat-controlled legislature has not viewed tax revenue as the taxpayer’s money or money to support our cities and towns, instead they view the revenues they collect as their money and they find every excuse not to return that money to our local communities. As your state Representative, I will work to…
Increase all forms of local aid - Chapter 70 Educational and Chapter 90 - to help our cities and towns keep property taxes low and properly fund our schools and law enforcement
Implement zero-based budgeting throughout state government and earmark the savings of increases in local aid for all cities and towns.
As a nation, compared to other countries, our Public Schools are mediocre at best. And, in Math and Science, we lag far behind the rest of the world. We need schools to improve greatly if we are going to compete domestically, and abroad. We must expect more from our teachers, and our students collectively. We must also ensure that our parents become major stakeholders in this process. Parents must know what is taught in our schools, and should always have an option to opt their child out of curriculum/material they deem inappropriate. Nationwide, we see parental concerns regarding a myriad of issues, shot down by various School Committees, and politicians. That has to stop immediately! We must also do everything in our power to keep our schools safe and secure.To improve our schools in the classroom and the community, I propose the following policy changes:
Pass legislation that will authorize the use of left-over COVID funds to completely secure our school entryways, and fully fund our school resource officer programs/positions.
Propose a Parents Bill of Rights when it comes to Massachusetts Public Schools.
Support the creation of Charter Schools in regions where the public schools are not meeting Annual Yearly Progress (AYP).
Increase Chapter 70 aid to fully fund the long list of state mandates that put enormous pressure on our local school budgets.