Dear Neighbor,
Recently, Governor Dayton announced that he will be calling a special session of the legislature for this month to address disaster relief caused by the storms in June. While I am proud to come together in a bipartisan way to help those who were victims of the storm, I’m disappointed we won’t be addressing the government-caused disaster Democrats and Governor Dayton imposed on the state during the 2013 legislative session.
Shortly after the legislative session, many of my Republican colleagues pressed for Governor Dayton to call a special session to eliminate the warehousing tax that was included in the final version of the Democrats’ tax bill. Governor Dayton responded that he supported repealing the warehousing tax, but that we should wait until the 2014 legislative session to address it since the tax does not go into effect until next April. Meanwhile, small businesses from across the state – from Red Wing to Minneapolis to Dayton – have said this tax has put their economic activity on hold and openly talk about moving to another state.
Yet when Governor Dayton arrived at Farm Fest a few weeks ago, he told farmers he supported creating a special exemption to remove farm equipment repair from the new equipment repair tax as part of the special session agenda. The governor also claimed that he and his staff were unaware that the farm equipment repair tax was included in the final tax bill. Never mind the fact that it was clear to House members from an exchange on the House floor that the farm equipment repair tax was part of the bill.
Nevertheless, a bipartisan chorus has begun to sing on repealing many of the taxes Democrats imposed during the 2013 legislative session. For example, former House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, a prominent Minnesota Democrat, called for repealing the tax on telecommunications enacted last session.
Yet, despite the broad bipartisan support to repeal these harmful tax mistakes, Governor Dayton and Democrat leaders refused during negotiations to compromise to get the job done during special session. Republican leaders offered three opportunities for Democrats to fix their mistakes from last session and Democrats said no. Our proposal pushed for the full repeal of the equipment repair tax, telecommunications tax and the warehousing tax but Democrats could not even commit to repeal one. Democrats wouldn't compromise and stood in the way of doing what’s right for hardworking taxpayers.
If one job leaves Minnesota due to the policies passed by this legislature, it will be one too many. This session of historic tax increases has already been too costly for our families and small businesses. As a border community, we know firsthand how simple it would be to move to Wisconsin. We must act now to fix the Democrat-caused disasters to prevent families and businesses from leaving our state.
As always, I am interested in your feedback. Please feel free to contact me by e-mail at Rep.Kathy.Lohmer@House.MN or contact my office at 651-296-4244. You can also send mail to my office address: 239 State Office Building, 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55155.
Sincerely,
Kathy