Republican Congressman Dave Camp recently came to Ferris State University to speak to stu­dents and the Big Rapids com­mu­nity about his expe­ri­ences as a mem­ber of the House of Representatives and the polit­i­cal issues that are fac­ing our coun­try today.

As a rep­re­sen­ta­tive from the fourth con­gres­sional dis­trict, where Mecosta County falls, he has been serv­ing in con­gress since 1991.

Camp’s speech focused mainly on tax­a­tion and fun­da­men­tal reform to the cur­rent tax sys­tem that is imposed upon Americans. He advo­cates some cuts to the sys­tem and a gen­eral reform toward a sim­pli­fied tax code.

Camp said, “The tax code is ten times the size of the Bible but with none of the good news.”

Camp insisted that tax reform is cru­cial to the nation’s future.

“A lot of peo­ple don’t feel we’ve had a recov­ery because we haven’t. Tax reform could really help boost our eco­nomic growth. If we don’t do any­thing, we’ll face a four tril­lion dol­lar tax increase over the next ten years due to expir­ing pro­vi­sions in our tax code,” Camp said. “Our top tax rate should be 25 per­cent. We have the high­est tax sys­tem in the world; this coun­try has to become more com­pet­i­tive with its taxation.”

He pointed out America’s “dou­ble tax” as a hin­drance to busi­ness as it taxes busi­ness twice: once for domes­tic activ­ity and once for for­eign activity.

Camp also crit­i­cized the president’s plan to extend a tax credit to American man­u­fac­tur­ers by say­ing, “This fur­ther com­pli­cated the tax sys­tem; it is a step in the wrong direction.”

When faced with a ques­tion from President Eisler about what Camp would do to help col­lege stu­dents, he replied, “I’ve been a long time sup­porter of Pell Grants, but this isn’t the entire solu­tion. Tuition and grants have both been going up at the same time, and this is a huge issue. The worst thing is for a stu­dent to grad­u­ate with mas­sive debt and then be unable to find employment.”

Amber Dunken, a first-year FSU phar­macy stu­dent, posed a ques­tion about Camp’s vote against the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which helps ensure equal pay for women in the work force. Camp replied that he thought this was some­thing “the free-market should handle.”

“I thought he was a lit­tle vague about my ques­tion,” Dunken said. “This is an impor­tant issue to me as I’m a woman and I’m going to be enter­ing the workforce.”

“I found Congressman Camp to be very inform­ing,” Anthony Peltier, a junior in mar­ket­ing, said. “I wish more stu­dents would have come out to hear him speak. People need to be more inter­ested in polit­i­cal issues. It’s very impor­tant to lis­ten to all sides.”