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State Representative Tom Anzelc
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4936
For more information contact: Michael Howard 651-296-8873
NEWS COLUMN
The Governor Chooses His Sacrificial Lambs
With a $5 billion state budget deficit, no one questions that serious sacrifices will need to be made. The question before the Governor and the state legislature this year is who will we ask to sacrifice? The Governor submitted his answer in his state budget proposal. Here are some of the details:
- Disabled, elderly and mentally ill Minnesotans are asked to sacrifice services and care they are currently receiving. The Governor cut into the budget of the long-term care providers that help care for many of them.
- Students are asked to sacrifice their financial security in the short and long term. They will have to pay significantly higher tuition and take on more debt in order to pursue a college degree. Some will be asked to sacrifice the opportunity to pursue their dream of a college education.
- Over 80,000 poor and low income working adults (an earner making about $10,400 a year) are asked to sacrifice their subsidized health care. Most of these working Minnesotans will be added to the rolls of the uninsured because they won’t be able to afford health insurance.
- Homeowners are asked to sacrifice more of their tax dollars. By cutting about $500 million over the next two years to local governments, dramatic property taxes increases will be the way basic services for things like police and fire are preserved. These increases mostly affect lower and middle income homeowners, especially the elderly who live on a fixed income.
- Police officers, state troopers, teachers, public health nurses and everyone with a job funded through state government are asked to sacrifice the quality of life they can afford. As the price of health insurance, food, gas and everything else increase, their wages will remain frozen for two years. Depending on the how cities and counties absorb the cuts to local government aid, some will certainly be asked to sacrifice their own jobs.
To recap, the Governor’s list of sacrificial lambs include these Minnesotans: poor, disabled, mentally-ill, middle class homeowners, elderly, the people who take care of our elderly, students that struggle to afford college, the people that teach our kids, and the people who keep us safe. Noticeably absent from this list are the wealthiest Minnesotans, ironically the people least in need of help during our economic recession that is squeezing the majority of Minnesotans.
Most of us in this great state understand that to be a Minnesotan means to be part of a community with shared interests, shared concerns and shared responsibilities. We understand that in these tough times, we all may be asked to share in the sacrifice for the good of the state and for the future good of the state.
Governor, on behalf those of us who proudly call ourselves Minnesotans, I have two questions for you: “Why are you asking the Minnesotans least affected by the economic recession to sacrifice the least? Why are you asking the Minnesotan’s struggling most from the recession to sacrifice the most?
State Representative Tom Anzelc
District 3A, Balsam Township
News Items
- STATE REPRESENTATIVE TOM ANZELC APPOINTED VICE-CHAIR OF HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE - (Posted: Dec 21 2012 12:00AM)
- Rep. Tom Anzelc participates in Governor Dayton’s “Working for Minnesota Jobs” discussion with Essar Steel and Magnetation - (Posted: 2012-10-03 00:00:00)
- REP. ANZELC: DISASTER RELIEF PACKAGE PROVIDES DESPERATELY NEEDED STATE AID - (Posted: 2012-08-24 00:00:00)
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