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Minnesota House of Representatives

State Representative Kelby Woodard

221 State Office BuildingState Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-7065

For more information contact: House GOP Communications 651-296-5520

Posted: Mar 1 2013 12:00AM
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LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Good economic news and more

Dear Neighbor,

Thanks to all who attended Saturday’s town hall meetings I hosted with Sen. Kevin Dahle in New Prague and Elko/New Market. It was especially interesting to hear the serious concerns people have regarding the DFL's proposal to raise taxes on all Minnesotans. I shared my own thoughts on why I oppose the governor’s tax increases during a recent press conference (my comments begin at the 1:50 mark of this video).

We also met with several corn, soybeans and pork producers for breakfast on Saturday. The DFL's new sales taxes – which also would apply to business-to-business transactions – would greatly impact our farmers and ranchers. I appreciated these folks sharing their perspective on these tax increases as well as on other issues facing our agricultural economy.

Speaking of taxes, a DFL sponsored bill would raise the excise taxes on beer, wine, and liquor by nearly 1,000 percent. Yes ... 1,000 percent. As an example, the tax on wine would go from $3 to $30 per gallon. These new taxes would be on top of the $3.7 billion in tax increases already being proposed.

Yet Another Positive Budget Forecast

The budget we enacted in 2011 continues to produce positive effects for our state's economy and is good news for taxpayers. The latest in a string of positive reports brings us to nearly $3 billion in surplus revenue for the budget enacted by the Republican majorities and the governor in 2011. That is an incredible turnaround from the $6 billion shortfall we faced as a state in 2010 (without raising taxes).

The report also indicates an improved outlook for 2014-15, with our projected shortfall having shrunk from $1.1 billion to $627 million. As a result of the positive budget numbers from the last quarter, an additional $290 million will go to our schools, leaving the school shift at 86.5 percent (the shift was at 70 percent in 2010). Here is a recent article in which I explain the reason we must pay back the shift fully in 2013.

Dayton's K-12 Budget

In 2011, we had to make up for $500 million in one-time federal stimulus funding. We not only made up for that gap, we added another $100 per pupil to the K-12 funding. The governor in his budget increases per-pupil funding by only about half of that amount.

Another issue we must address is how to help offset the increased health care costs borne by school districts under Obamacare. School districts are beginning to indicate they may seek levy increases this fall to pay for the increases costs associated with compliance to Obamacare. The governor and the DFL majorities ignore this issue in their K-12 budget.

The governor's budget also does not address the remaining $800 million we owe still owe our schools. By his inaction the governor actually borrows another $84 million from our schools to pay for other priorities.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune recently printed a commentary I co-authored with Sen. Sean Nienow with more on this subject.

Legislative Survey

Please let me know your thoughts on the challenges and opportunities we face in Minnesota by responding to a brief survey.

Warm regards,

Kelby

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