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State Representative Kurt Zellers
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-5502
For more information contact: Austin Bleess 651-296-5529
NEWS COLUMN
SESSION BEGINS -- TAXES ABOUND
By State Rep. Kurt Zellers,
District 32B
The 2008 Legislative Session has barely started and the tone has been set with a resounding THUD! With a struggling state and national economy; the Democrat dominated Minnesota Legislature started the session by reacting with nearly 10 billion in proposed new tax increases. And this comes after last year when Governor Pawlenty had warned against runaway spending of the 2 billion dollar surplus, but more on that later.
Usually, in the even numbered years of our “part-time” State Legislature we look to fund capitol improvement projects by using the available credit of the State of Minnesota. You might consider it like a home equity line of credit; based on assets and bond ratings – the State has roughly 950 million dollars available to spend to make improvements to various infrastructure projects around the state.
In my personal opinion, we should use all of that existing capitol to fund road and bridge projects. We are able to lock in our costs in today’s dollars and fund projects in our area (Highway 610 or Devil’s Triangle) that may be delayed for years because of much larger projects that consume millions more in funds.
There is also another very important budget concern that is going to need to be addressed in the very near future that will have our State and its citizens at a crossroads. At the end of this week, our state economist will present Governor Pawlenty and the Legislature with the economic forecast for the State of Minnesota. By looking at the money coming in from taxes, fees and penalties; then subtracting what the Legislature has spent in last year’s budget on education, health care, transportation, etc. – they will predict whether or not we have a budget surplus or deficit.
Earlier this winter a similar budget forecast was issued by the same state economist and it showed that at that time we had a deficit of roughly 370 million. All indications right now say that the new estimate could range anywhere from 650 million to almost 1 billion dollars. And looking ahead into 2009 and 2010 we may see a yearly deficit of one to two billion dollars.
So the question is: how do we fix this problem? Do we go back to the taxpayers and ask for yet another tax increase? Do we take a much closer look at our state budget and see where we could re-prioritize? Or do we ask the State of Minnesota to do what many of us would have to do if we had to do with less money in our family budget – reduce our spending.
In listening to the taxpayers and residents in our area; they would like to see government make due with the money they already collect, and for good reason. In last years budget, spending on government programs went up over 9%. There aren’t many families or businesses in our area that saw an increase in their budgets at that rate. Instead of constantly going back to the same taxpayers, again and again, to take more money out of their pockets – state government should balance their budget without new tax increases. I believe that in rather uncertain economic times; that is the best thing to do for our state, our job providers and our taxpayers.
But that is not the view of the Democrat dominated State Legislature. They believe that we can somehow tax our way out of the budget deficit and tax our way out of tough economic times. They believe that higher taxes on the job providers in our state will somehow turn the economic tide. But if you’re a business owner and you’re selling less, paying more in taxes and are uncertain of future sales – where will the new money come from to pay the extra taxes? Will you raise your prices? Will you have to cut employee salaries? Will you lose business and have to reduce the number of employees? Or will it be a combination of all?
So the question before all of us comes down to basic kitchen table economics: if you have less to spend, what are you going to do? I think the State of Minnesota should reduce wasteful spending and duplicate government programs; not go back to the taxpayers and again ask for more money in new taxes.
What’s your opinion?
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