I’ve read and heard one of the keys to the Phil Scott vision for the state’s future is increasing the number of 25-45 year-olds who live in Vermont. Now Scott doesn’t supply many specifics for meeting his goal and enticing this age group to Vermont, but in comments to the Burlington Free Press he indicated he believes helping a company feel more confident by way of various tax incentives should be a big part of it – or maybe that’s the key to all his plans.

But there are other solutions to this puzzle. And here are samplings from a short list (lifted from here ) of policy suggestions that might realistically incentivize the desired demographic (and other age groups) Scott claims he wants to woo to the Green Mountain state:

a) Offer a higher wage. Yes, yes, wages are so 20th century, but The Kids Today have a strange affinity for them. Maybe it’s nostalgia. […]

b) Good health insurance. […] Silly Kids Today.

c) Retirement benefits. […] They’ve been told their whole lives that Social Security just won’t be there for them so they need an alternative. Blame whoever keeps telling them that (shhh!!!!).

d) On the job training. […]

e)Job Security. The Kids Today would like some assurances that their jobs might be around a few months hence. […]

Oh, but implementing any of those would take a bit of leadership, and Scott’s business buddies would squawk a lot.

But let’s be fair to Scott’s key solution – business-friendly tax policy – it might be just the thing 25-45 year-olds are into.

And I am probably not alone in recalling those times long ago, when we were still young, meeting up with friends on a Saturday afternoon and making plans to head out on the town that evening, in search of a little “business certainty, a tax incentive” or if we got really lucky “a tax exemption.”