Skip to main content Skip to office menu Skip to footer
Capital IconMinnesota Legislature

Legislative News and Views - Rep. Jim Newberger (R)

Back to profile

News from Representative Newberger 04-10-2013

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Dear Friends,

I wanted to take a few moments to update you on the progress of the 2014-2015 biennium budget. Since its initial introduction, much has changed with the Governor thankfully removing some of the most damaging proposals.

Gone is the proposal to expand the sales tax to a number of new goods and services, as well as the extension of the sales tax to business-to-business services that would have decimated jobs and rendered Minnesota uniquely uncompetitive with other states in the Midwest. Without the revenue from the sales taxes, the Governor was forced to drop his proposal for business and property tax relief, as well as a cut in the corporate tax rate.

I am disappointed that neither the Governor nor the Democrat majorities in the House and Senate seem interested in making any effort to find meaningful reforms, reduce overall spending, or consolidate government in any way, shape, or form.

In fact, it's just the opposite. When the DFL released their budget targets last month, it seemed as if they were in a competition with the Governor to see who could raise taxes higher and spend more of your hard-earned dollars. House Democrats want to raise more than $2 billion dollars in taxes to close a $627 million dollar budget gap.

A vast majority of the new revenue comes from a "temporary" surcharge on the "rich." In government, there are few things more permanent than a "temporary" tax increase. The last temporary tax increase was a half-cent sales tax increase in 1991 that you are still paying today. A half-cent tax increase doesn't sound like much, but when we do the math it amounts to almost $350 million dollars a year!

We also are starting to examine the omnibus budget bills put forward by the House Democrats. These bills will make up much of the 2014-2015 biennium budget that will be voted on and sent to the Governor. Of particular concern is the Education Finance Omnibus bill that invests millions into wasteful bureaucracy, dollars that could be better used to increase per-pupil funding that will have the most impact on the education of our students. Democrats also propose to impose tens of millions of dollars in unfunded mandates on our school districts. While I applaud the DFL's commitment and investments in education, these one-size-fits-all mandates are the wrong direction for the improvements we need to make for our schools.

Amidst all of the new spending and wasteful programs proposed, Democrats are still proposing a $150,000,000 cut to the Department of Health and Human services budget. Worse, Democrats have yet to outline where exactly those $150,000,000 in cuts would come from. I applaud the Democrats for looking to shrink our budget and restrain spending, but when core government services are put at risk in favor of millions in bureaucratic bloat elsewhere, those efforts are hollow at best. That approach needs to be taken across the board, rather than only targeting Health and Human Services.

House Democrats wish to spend over $39 billion dollars in 2014-2015. This is an astonishing increase of nearly $4 billion dollars from the approximately $35 billion dollar budget for 2012-2013. Now is not the time for dramatic tax increases. We have a projected surplus of over $700 million dollars for the 2016-2017 biennium – that is when we can start to make new investments and cutting taxes. My motto has always been that big government is unsustainable. This is particularly true when you consider that the proposed spending increases far outpace the growth of Minnesota's economy and could set us on an unsustainable path that has the potential to put our future surpluses at risk.

We know what works. We've been living it for the past two years. Thanks to holding the line on tax hikes and limiting the growth of government to a reasonable 1% increase, Minnesota's economy has been on the comeback. The state has generated billions in additional tax revenue without raising the tax rates, created tens of thousands of new jobs, and seen over 60,000 new business filings. That is the blueprint for continued prosperity. The Democrats think that we can simply tax our way to prosperity & put their faith in government for job creation. That's the wrong approach to creating economic growth, and threatens the improvements our economy has made over the past two years.

It's going to be an uphill battle the rest of the way in fighting the almost inevitable spending explosion and increased tax rates. Democrats have full control of the legislature and are insistent on continuing down the same failed path of more government, higher taxes, and fewer jobs. You can count on me to be a voice against these damaging policies, and hold them accountable for the impacts they inflict on our economy in the coming year.

Have a great rest of your week, and stay safe in this wintery weather.

Jim Newberger
State Representative, District 15B