For newcomer Gabe Lytle, legislative reform would be a primary concern if he wins his bid for the State House of Representative for the 60th District.

Lytle, a 21-year-old from Manor Township, Armstrong County, is running as a Green Party candidate against incumbent Republican Jeff Pyle.

“Legislative reform is my biggest priority. I would like to change the size of the Legislature to roughly 153,” Lytle said. This would be a significant decrease from the current 253-member general assembly composed of 50 Senate and 203 House districts.

Lytle said a smaller Legislature might mean more can be accomplished.

“I believe that the current size of the Legislature is one of the problems to why there is so much obstruction to getting things accomplished,” he said.

Lytle also wants to lower the salary for the Pennsylvania legislators, he said.

“I would like to lower (the salary) to around $50,000,” he said. “It’s currently at over $85,000. I believe that there are multiple representatives that would not be there if it weren’t for the size of the paycheck, and we need to get those people out of elected office.”

In fact, Lytle plans, if elected, to take a “district-oriented salary” of $24,266, the per capita average income in the 60th district, he said.

The rest of the money would be donated to local charities, nonprofits and other causes.

“Currently, people on minimum wage are making $15,000 a year. If they can survive, I can survive at this higher wage,” he said.

That’s why Lytle cites raising the minimum wage, tax reform and job creation as some of his major priorities.“Another big issue would be raising the minimum wage in Pennsylvania, eventually getting to $15 an hour,” Lytle said. “Studies have shown that when the minimum wage is raised, our economy does significantly better than prior to that. The lower to middle class families spend pretty much everything that they earn, and when the minimum wage is raised, those people can spend more money, which helps bolster the economy.”

In addition to helping the lower and middle classes by raising the minimum wage, Lytle would focus on changing the flat income tax currently in place in Pennsylvania.

The flat tax means the same tax rate applies to everyone regardless of income level, but a progressive tax rate means the rate would increase as income increases using a income-range bracket system. Each higher range is taxed at a higher rate than the bracket below. “A flat tax hurts the middle class more than any other tax options. That is, more burden is placed on the middle class,” Lytle said.

Another tax reform that would also address job losses in the 60th district would be reforming the corporate tax rate, Lytle said. This one idea is one that Lytle shares with his opponent, Pyle.

By slightly lowering the state’s corporate tax rate, more businesses may choose Pennsylvania as a place to build. Currently, the corporate income tax rate is 9.99 percent in Pennsylvania.

“When businesses are considering moving to new locations they often look at the corporate tax rate,” he said. “Right now, Pennsylvania has one of the highest so they automatically forget about us. If we lowered the rate, it would create more interest in business-oriented minds, and we could possibly pick up business opportunities that we previously would not have.”

Another way Lytle suggests addressing unemployment is to focus on developing the renewable energy industry, including a slow transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources.

“I believe that we need to ban fracking as a state, and we need to refocus our energy priorities on renewable energy sources,” he said. “By the time we weed out the fossil fuel industry, the renewable energy field will be sustainable and sufficient. The transition would take, I’d say, at least 15 years.”

In the 60th district, there are a number of workers who were employed by the fossil fuel industry, and Lytle hopes the future generations will embrace renewable energy.

“We’ve had generations of workers working in the fossil fuel industry, and whether we like it or not, those jobs are leaving,” Lytle said. “If we invest in renewable sources, the future generations of those families will have somewhere to work. Right now, (those jobs are) leaving and they’re not being replaced with any other jobs.”

Another issue Lytle would want to address is the opioid addiction problem plaguing his district.

“It affects everybody in the district one way or another. If you don’t personally know somebody addicted, you know somebody that knows somebody and that has an effect,” he said.

“I believe our community has done very well in rallying around the families affected by this, but it’s still a very big morale drain to have this happening in our community. We have got to raise funding for prevention and rehabilitation programs. We also have got to stop using jails or prisons to try to resolve this problem.”