Romney jobs plan: less government, less taxes, less regulation

Mitt Romney's jobs plan might be summed up like this: less is more.

Less government, less taxes, less regulation means more private sector jobs, at least according to the GOP presidential candidate.

Romney is scheduled Tuesday to be in North Las Vegas to reveal his jobs plan during a visit to McCandless International Trucks Inc.

He outlined some of his basic ideas in an op-ed that appeared on Monday in USA Today.

"Each proposal is rooted in the conservative premise that government itself cannot create jobs," Romney wrote. "At best, government can provide a framework in which economic growth can occur."

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and investment banker, noted he has spent most of his career "starting new businesses and turning around ailing ones."

"Unlike career politicians who've never met a payroll, I know why jobs come and go," Romney wrote, making a veiled reference to long-serving Texas Gov. Rick Perry, his chief GOP competitor.

Under his jobs plan, Romney said he would:

- Eliminate taxes on interest, dividends and capital gains for middle-class taxpayers.

- Overhaul the tax system to keep tax rates on income, savings and investment low.

- Pare back regulations on business, which the federal government estimates costs $1.75 trillion to enforce.

- Eliminate "Obamacare," the name critics give to President Barack Obama's health insurance overhaul that includes universal coverage for uninsured Americans. (Romney critics point out he instituted similar health insurance reforms when he was governor of Massachusetts.)

- Create a "Reagan Economic Zone," named for the former president, to encourage free enterprise and free trade between the U.S. and other countries.

- Confront nations such as China "that violate trade rules" by treating U.S. companies unfairly and stealing their intellectual property, according to Romney.

- Use "to the fullest extent" America's nuclear know-how, and oil, gas and coal reserves to boost domestic energy production.

- Battle unions that Romney claims "deprive workers of basic rights" such as secret ballots on membership votes. (Those same unions also largely support Democrats and Obama.)

- Consolidate federal job training efforts, now spread throughout 47 separate programs.

- Cap federal spending to stop running up the record high national debt.

- Support a constitutional amendment to balance the budget, something states such as Nevada have.

"Barack Obama has had his turn at fixing the American economy," Romney said in the op-ed. "Millions of unemployed Americans can judge by their own experiences what he has done and failed to do."

Nevada's jobless rate is 12.9 percent, about 14 percent in Las Vegas. Nationwide, the unemployment rate stands at 9.1 percent, where it's expected to remain through next years' election.

Jobs is likely to remain the No. 1 issue in the 2012 election.

Two days after Romney rolls out his jobs plan, the president on Thursday will propose his own jobs plan in an address to a joint session of Congress.

In Nevada, the state Democratic Party is already leaping to the president's defense.

"While President Obama is fighting to protect seniors and put Nevadans back to work, Mitt Romney and the Republican field are fighting for tax breaks for corporations that ship American jobs overseas and special interests that are funding their campaigns," the Nevada Democratic Party said in a statement on Monday.

The Democrats said Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford and state Sen. Mo Denis, both of Las Vegas, plan to deliver that message in a news conference Tuesday across the street from Romney's event.