Vincent Orange

League of Women Voters^®
of the District of Columbia

(Democrat)

Question 1:
Age: 53
Occupation: Attorney
Education: Bachelor of Science, Business Administration; Bachelor of Arts, Communications; Juris Doctris; Master of Laws-Taxation

Qualifications for office sought: Democratic National Committeeman, 2008 to present; DC Councilmember, 1999-2007. Chairman, DC Council Committee on Government Operations, 2001-2007. Co-Chairman, Special DC Council Committee on Special Education; Attorney; Certified Public Accountant; Chief Financial Officer, National Children's Center, Inc; Senior Tax Accountant, Arthur Andersen & Co.

Question 2: How to increase tax revenues? While developing the DC budget for Fiscal Year 2012 will be a challenge, we do not need to take the easy way out and raise taxes. Revenue can be generated to balance the budget without raising taxes. We must commit to collecting dollars owed to the DC government from Medicaid Reimbursements. We have not collected $347.7 million, simply because we do not file the necessary paper work with the Federal government. Another source of revenue is our Real Property Tax Lien Portfolio which we can sell on the open market and generate in excess of $100 million. We can also market our DC-Net Fiber Optic communications system to the Federal government. For example, the federal agency OPM leases space on our DC-Net for about $1.7 million per year. We can generate in excess of $25 million from leasing excess capacity.

Questions 3: How to reduce spending? Fortunately, our budget deficit is down to $320 million as opposed to the approximately $600 million that was being reported several weeks ago. It is very evident that government fraud, waste and abuse is taking place. Thus, we must examine our procurements which are approximately $1.7 billion per year. Procurements for travel, publication productions and acquistitions, fleet ("SUVs and the like"), supplies, materials etc. has to be reduced. The DC Council must produced the regulations to implement combined reporting which will generate $22 million. We should examine our treatment of tax-exempt bonds for those States that tax DC Bonds while we exempt from DC taxation their Bonds. This initiative can generate millions of dollars.
We need our best financial minds to come together and balance our budget the way we did in 1999 through 2007 while facing a $518 million deficit and producing over this period a $1.7 billion dollar surplus without raising taxes and reducing spending.
DC government must live within its means.

Questions 4: Will Council salary be your only employment income? Yes.

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