Rep. Kathy Sims said if she is re-elected to her House seat, she will focus on lowering taxes and reducing government spending.

The incumbent is running against Rick Currie for House seat B in the 4th Legislative District.

"Lower taxes on the grocery tax is what I would be interested in," Sims said. "I also want to exempt military retirement income from state income tax."

Sims said she visited the Idaho National Laboratory recently and learned that they actively recruit retired military professionals to work at the nuclear facility, but 13 other states have exempted military retirement income from state income tax collection and that puts Idaho at a disadvantage.

"We want these people to come back home," Sims said, adding that she attempted to get the exemption during the last legislative session. "We only lost by four votes, so I am going to bring it back."

Sims said there is more work to be done on reducing the personal property tax, as it is a burden on businesses as well.

Sims, 72, was raised in Kootenai County. She lived in Post Falls until she was 11 years old, then her family moved to Coeur d'Alene.

"I've been here all of my life," she said.

Sims is an automobile and motorcycle dealer. She is a divorced mother of two daughters and has four grandchildren.

She attended Coeur d'Alene High School, and got her General Education Diploma at North Idaho College, where she also studied record-keeping and accounting.

Sims has been very active in the Republican Party, which she chaired locally for 12 years. She also served as vice-chair of the state Republican Party and served as state delegate to three GOP national conventions.

She was appointed twice by two governors to the Idaho Human Rights Commission and has been actively involved in the local Rotary.

Here are Sims' views on the four issues we asked all of the state legislative candidates to address:

Add the words

"When they say add the words, someone much smarter than me said they believe the Ten Commandments are enough. So do I."

Medicaid expansion

"This is federal money, and roughly a third of Idaho's budget is federal money. That is here today and gone tomorrow. The federal government is broke as broke can be. I will not vote to take federal money that is here today and gone tomorrow. It will end up biting us."

Minimum wage

"I would not support a raise in the minimum wage. You have to stick with the federal minimum, but as an employer for 46 years, I know that you can only pay what the job is worth. Everybody has to have the opportunity to grow. You have to start somewhere. If there is no place to start for somebody who hasn't achieved a skill yet, then you're never going to get a skilled workforce because those skills are taught on the job.

"Everybody needs a place to start - everybody coming out of high school and everybody coming out of college - everybody needs a place to start. I have had hundreds and hundreds of employees, and I don't have anybody who works for me now that makes minimum wage, but everybody needs a place to start."

Economic development

"I don't have any plans for economic development other than lower taxes and decrease spending. Lower taxes on groceries, on property and on personal income tax. Lower taxes will spur the economy. More government spending doesn't do that."