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State Representative Paul Thissen
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-5375
For more information contact: Carrie Lucking 651-296-4169
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Thissen Floor Speech on HF130: Reckless proposal to harm middle class, increase property taxes
Members, HF130 is a reckless higher-tax, higher-tuition budget proposal that only tightens the squeeze on middle-class Minnesotans.
We have tough choices before us this year. Our constituents expect us to rise to that challenge by making smart, fair decisions. Today’s bill offers none of that.
In Minnesota, we believe in standing together in tough times. But this proposal asks same people who have carried the burden of budget balancing in recent years -- those who have mortgages, send their kids to school, and want to see their kids go to college -- to do so again, instead of asking every Minnesotan to share in the solution.
We are continuing to travel down the failed roads paved by Tim Pawlenty. Unfair budgets that have caused a $3 billion increase in property taxes, double-digit increases in tuition for Minnesota kids and their families, and disproportionately hurt hard-working families.
We were not elected to play budget whack-a-mole - swinging cuts around willy-nilly, without thought or prioritization, simply whacking at whatever that happens to pop up.
The new Republican majority promised Minnesotans on the campaign trail that you’d look to real cost-saving reforms. With this reckless proposal, you are certainly breaking that promise tonight.
This reckless rush-job means local communities across this state will lose, and property taxpayers will pay.
Let’s look at the increases in property taxes:
Rochester - $2 million
St. Cloud - $1.5 million
Mankato – nearly $1 million
Albert Lea - $500,000
South St. Paul - $200,000
Grand Rapids and Thief River Falls - $100,000
And the list goes on. All-told, communities across this state are staring down over a half billion dollars in cuts to state support for firefighters, police and snow plows, and taxpayers are bracing to pay $300 million more in property taxes.
Everyone in this room knows that we are going to cut the budget this year and cut it deeply. But we also know that there is a right way to do it and a reckless way.
This bill represents the reckless way. It has been rushed through the legislative process so quickly that we are hardly able to know what the real consequences of the cuts in this bill will be. Did any of you know when this week started that you’d be voting to slash funds to help returning members of the National Guard and veterans? Have you considered at all whether those items should be higher priorities than other state spending?
One of the most absurd parts of this HF130 debate is that some people are calling it a solution. We all know that this fills only a tiny fraction of the budget hole; and even at that it does so extremely unfairly. That’s why piecemeal budgeting won’t work, and it’s why we need real reform, a real solution, and a comprehensive approach.
In fact, it wasn’t so long ago that many of you agreed with me. Speaker Zellers, last March I stood on this floor and criticized piecemeal budgeting and you said I stole your speech about the problems with partial budget solutions. Rep. Anderson – last session you scolded Democrats for a piecemeal budget calling it “incomplete homework." What’s different? Why have you changed your mind?
We’re not asking for a no-cuts budget solution. That’s unreasonable. What we are asking for is a Minnesota solution – one values rather than reckless, random choices, one that reflects our values of shared responsibility, one that stops the middle-class squeeze.
This first tax increase bill of the 2011 session fails every test. Members should vote no.
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Rep. Paul Thissen is House Minority Leader. He reprsents Richfiled and parts of Minneapolis in the Minnesota State House of Representatives.
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