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Archive for the ‘DFL’ Category

The day after the session ended, the GOP and DFL took flight to give people their take on the session. As is tradition, the DFL bragged about all the great things they did while the GOP talked about the destruction that the DFL did. This chart shows how much people will get hurt from the DFL tax increase:

While it’s true “the rich” will get hardest initially, the reality is that the tax increased levied at them will be paid by their customers. “The rich”, aka small businesses, will pay an additional $1.13 billion. Meanwhile, other employers will pay an additional $424,000,000. The middle class tax increases totals an additional $600,000,000.

At a time when middle class wages are stagnant, the DFL chose to burden the middle class with a significant tax increase. Of course, they’ll dispute that but that’s reality.

This year’s session will be known for its tax increases. Passing gay marriage will be characterized as historic but that isn’t what the average Minnesotan was thinking about. They’ve been hoping that the economy would start growing again. The DFL’s tax increase won’t help create jobs.

The business owners I’ve spoken with have said that they’re expecting job growth to level off. They aren’t expecting a big increase in unemployment, just a sharp decline in job growth.

The other thing they’re expecting is to see businesses leaving the state or expanding in other states rather than expanding in Minnesota.

The harsh reality is that the DFL’s budget grows government, not the economy. When government grows, economies either shrink or their growth slows significantly. Apparently, the DFL hasn’t figured that out.

With Minnesota’s 2013 legislative session in the books, it’s time to total up the DFL’s damage to Minnesota’s economy. The tax increases will hurt Minnesota’s economy the most are the business-to-business sales taxes on warehousing and telecommunications. The warehouse tax has been tried in several states, including Massachusetts. It’s been quickly repealed because it does lots of damage in a short period of time. I suspect that the DFL will repeal the warehousing tax early next session. If they don’t, the damage that tax will do will be considerable, both in terms of economic damage and in political terms.

Another tax increase that will hurt Minnesotans is the cigarette tax increase. In Chicago, where the cigarette tax is high, 75% of cigarette packs don’t have a tax stamp on them. That’s how many cigarette smokers buy their cigarettes on the black market in Chicago. Follow this link for more on cigarette tax avoidance.

Another way that the DFL hurt the middle class they claim to fight for is through the energy bill, which I wrote about here. Here’s what Rep. Mike Beard, the premier authority on energy issues in the Minnesota legislature, said about the DFL’s energy bill:

House Democrats passed their hugely controversial Energy Policy omnibus bill this week that increases even more aggressive, unfunded renewable and solar mandates on utility companies.

Besides huge technological difficulties implementing the new law, it will increase electric costs for all ratepayers (homeowners, businesses, hospitals, you name it) and decrease the reliability of our state’s energy sources.

This bill benefits, to the best of my knowledge, a few Minnesota solar companies that rely on a mandated pool of government money to survive, even though they have over three decades of federal mandates throwing hundreds of billions of dollars at their industry.

The DFL’s energy bill, passed in the name of global warming, will drive up electricity prices:

REP. BEARD: I still have a picture of a poster in my office that Jimmy Carter’s administration put out in 1978, thirty-five years ago, that by the year 2000, fully 20% of our power would come from solar PB. He dropped $12,000,000,000 on that adventure. And what do we have to show for it? Nothing. One tenth of 1% today, thirty-five years later, is solar PB. And so we’re going to take another run at that windmill, and I’m not talking about the ones on Buffalo Ridge. We’re picking winners and losers and we’re desperately hoping that these are winners this time.

In short, the DFL raised taxes on the middle class by raising the cigarette tax. The middle class will get hurt through higher electric bills thanks to their energy bill. The DFL passed that bill to satisfy another of their special interest allies, namely environmental extremists.

Finally, their multitude of tax increases on small businesses will chase some businesses from Minnesota. Other businesses will keep part of their operations here while expanding their businesses in states more hospitable to businesses.

After proclaiming that the GOP’s budget was filled with gimmicks, especially including the school shift, the DFL’s budget failed to pay off the school shift. In 2012, the GOP legislature passed a bill that would’ve paid off the school shift, which Gov. Dayton promptly vetoed. After refusing to pay off the school shift, Speaker Thissen had the audacity to say that their budget didn’t include shifts or gimmicks.

Thanks to the DFL legislature, Minnesotans will have fewer dollars in their pockets and capital will continue leaving Minnesota at an alarming rate.

Tags: Paul Thissen, Tax Increases, Cigarette Tax, Sales Tax, Inventories, Telecommunications, Solar Energy Mandates, Electric Bills, Middle Class Squeeze, Class Warfare, DFL, Election 2014

This article is fantastic news for Minnesotans:

DFL legislative leaders say plans to raise the gas tax for road projects and a metrowide sales tax for transit projects are dead for the year. “I would say they’re probably both dead,” said DFL Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk.

Senate leaders have been pushing to increase the gas tax to pay for additional road and bridge projects. But historically high gas prices and opposition from Governor Dayton has proved too big of an obstacle.

There’s still next year but that’ll be a tricky subject. Will the DFL want to raise more taxes heading into an election year? Speaker Thissen’s statement is interesting:

DFL House Speaker Paul Thissen suggested there was discomfort in raising gas and sales taxes at a time when they’re also raising other taxes to balance the budget and spend more on schools.

That’s an interesting statement considering the fact that the DFL insists that they’re only taxing the rich. If the DFL Tax Bill is only taxing the rich, a gas tax increase wouldn’t be an additional tax on the middle class. Likewise, the metro-wide sales tax wouldn’t be a major addiotional tax.

The bad news is that Gov. Dayton, Speaker Thissen and Senate Majority Leader Bakk have agreed to a new Tax Bill:

Although a new fourth-tier income tax rate on the state’s highest earners has been part of the mix since the start of budget negotiations, it has been unclear until tonight what that rate would be, 9.85 percent. That is higher than the House’s original position of 8.84 percent and lower than the Senate’s proposal of 10.7 percent. The 2 percent surcharge on those taxpayers to pay off the money the state owes the schools has been dropped. Gov. Mark Dayton said that money will be allocated this biennium toward a payment, and he expects to have the debt paid off during the next biennium.

While new taxes on alcohol have been dropped from the bill, cigarette smokers are likely to pay about $1.60 a pack more, a House position. Additionally, smokers could be subject to new taxes announced today to fill any funding shortfall to pay the state’s share of the stadium for the Minnesota Vikings.

Right now, 19% of cigarettes sold to smokers come from the black market, the internet, other states or gaming casinos. When this cigarette tax increase goes into effect, 30% of cigarettes will be sold through the black market, the internet, other states or gaming casinos. Meanwhile, convenience stores will lose customers, which will result in smaller profits and fewer jobs.

Simply put, this cigarette tax will shrink cigarette tax revenue to the state because people will change their buying habits.

Further, the income tax increases will be stifling. In addition to the higher tax rate, small businesses will get hit with fewer deductions and a sales tax increase will be levied on warehouses, electronic repairs and telecommunications.

Finally and most importantly, the DFL’s tax increase and their budget won’t strengthen Minnesota’s economy because it only focuses on the middle class. This budget hurts businesses. You can’t be create jobs if you hate the employers. It’s that simple.

Tags: Tax Increases, Cigarette Tax, Sales Tax, Gas Tax, Mark Dayton, Tom Bakk, Paul Thissen, Convenience Stores, Unemployment, Vikings Stadium, DFL

This article is the article everyone’s expected since Election Night. Unfortunately, it isn’t the article we’d been hoping for.

Thissen, Gov. Mark Dayton and Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk of Cook said they agreed on spending targets and will give conference committees a few other guidelines, such as:

1. The sales tax would not rise on consumer goods, including clothing, but businesses could pay sales tax on goods sold to other businesses.
2. Income taxes would go up on people in the top 2 percent of Minnesota earners, couples with $250,000 or more taxable income.
3. An income tax surcharge would be added for Minnesota’s richest of the rich, with proceeds going to help repay money the state has borrowed from school districts.
4. Cigarette taxes would rise.
5. Some business tax breaks would disappear.
6. All-day kindergarten would be funded.
7. The state would spend $400 million in property tax relief, such as by increasing aid sent to local governments.

Thanks to this agreement, companies will leave Minnesota. Businesses staying will get with multiple tax increases. Businesses will get charged sales taxes on services. Additionally, they’ll get hit with higher income tax rates. That’s bad enough but that isn’t all. Current deductions will get eliminated, too.

Why would a business stay in Minnesota and absorb all those tax increases in a single year? The simple answer is many won’t.

The supposed property tax relief is a mirage. When liberal mayors get their increased LGA checks, it won’t go towards property tax relief. It’ll go towards increased spending. That isn’t a prediction. It’s noting what’s happened in the past without fail. Anyone that thinks Chris Coleman won’t increase spending on things that aren’t necessities isn’t paying attention. He’s done it in the past. He’s a creature of habit. He’ll do it again.

The three Democrats said middle-income Minnesotans would not pay more taxes other than for cigarettes. But when reporters pushed him on the subject, Dayton said that some of the business taxes could trickle down to consumers in higher prices.

Whether it’s in the form of a direct tax increase or it’s in the form of higher prices charged by businesses who’ve gotten hit with a tax increase, the net effect is that the middle class will get hit with higher prices, leaving people with less money to spend on the things of their choosing.

Most importantly, this budget won’t strengthen Minnesota’s economy. The best outcome we should expect from this budget and these policies is that it won’t hurt the economy too much. Fewer jobs will be created as a result of the tax bill. Company profits will be significantly smaller. People will have less disposable income thanks to the energy bill that’s about to get signed.

Gov. Dayton has sent out emails touting a “better budget for Minnesota.” That’s what we deserve. Unfortunately, the DFL has seen to it to give us this budget, which doesn’t strengthen Minnesota’s economy.

When the House DFL voted to artificially increase the use of solar power, they voted to raise the price of electricity on every Minnesotan. Almost. The DFL bill includes a carve-out for companies in northern Minnesota. Rep. Mike Beard has been the expert on energy issues in the House for years. Rep. Beard isn’t known as someone given to making wild statements. When he talks about energy issues, I listen because I’m about to learn something. Here’s what Rep. Beard wrote about the DFL’s energy bill:

House Democrats passed their hugely controversial Energy Policy omnibus bill this week that increases even more aggressive, unfunded renewable and solar mandates on utility companies.
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Besides huge technological difficulties implementing the new law, it will increase electric costs for all ratepayers (homeowners, businesses, hospitals, you name it) and decrease the reliability of our state’s energy sources.

This bill benefits, to the best of my knowledge, a few Minnesota solar companies that rely on a mandated pool of government money to survive, even though they have over three decades of federal mandates throwing hundreds of billions of dollars at their industry.

This bill is a positive step forward except for a few things. First, it raises the price of electricity on everyone in the state. Except for the people of northern Minnesota. Second, it mandates the use of a form of energy that can’t compete with other forms of energy without massive government subsidies. Third, it mandates the use of a form of energy that isn’t reliable.

This video does a fantastic job of explaining why subsidizing solar power is a waste of the taxpayers’ money:

This partial transcript summarizes things:

REP. BEARD: I still have a picture of a poster in my office that Jimmy Carter’s administration put out in 1978, thirty-five years ago, that by the year 2000, fully 20% of our power would come from solar PB. He dropped $12,000,000,000 on that adventure. And what do we have to show for it? Nothing. One tenth of 1% today, thirty-five years later, is solar PB. And so we’re going to take another run at that windmill, and I’m not talking about the ones on Buffalo Ridge. We’re picking winners and losers and we’re desperately hoping that these are winners this time.

Last night on Almanac, Michael Noble pushed the DFL mantras that renewables were the way of the future, that we’re falling behind other nations so we have to invest now. That’s BS. Rep. Beard’s statistical summarization shows that Noble’s statements are spin. Thirty-five years and tens of billions of dollars later, not to mention stories like Solyndra and other failed solar power companies, have produced negligible results.

Some people will insist that that’s a good investment. People who don’t have a vested interest in that will insist that that’s the definition of pissing the taxpayers’ money away to support people with the ‘right’ political connections. Here’s another observation from Rep. Beard:

Unfortunately, this Energy Policy bill picks winners and losers. The winners are politically connected ‘green’ energy groups that are being given a government guaranteed market, while utility companies, electric co-ops, municipals and all ratepayers pay the price.

This DFL legislature is intent on pissing away the taxpayers’ money on things that are proven failures. They’re intent on doing this because these initiatives support their special interest allies.

This Strib op-ed is about as whiny as I’ve read in recent years. It also isn’t credible. Here’s a sample from the op-ed:

The recent exchange between Gov. Mark Dayton and some community members in a discussion about increases in legislative pay (“Dayton says forum crowd in Shakopee was ‘juvenile,’?” May 1) illustrates a common problem.

In Minnesota and across the United States, government is continuously cited as something terrible, and members of an opposing party are fair game for insults and ridicule.

First, the treatment Gov. Dayton received was mild. I’ve watched the video. The crowd didn’t erupt. They mildly expressed their displeasure with Gov. Dayton’s policies. Second, government is immoral, not evil, when they spend money foolishly. Like when a city spends $50,000 each for 10 artistic drinking fountains, rather than $60,000 total for the drinking fountains. It’s worth noting that, after spending $500,000 on the artistic drinking fountains, R.T. Rybak had to lay off police officers.

In short, elected officials will get respected when they don’t spend the taxpayers’ money foolishly or make decisions that are counterproductive.

This won’t happen:

So disrespect of government officials seems to be at an all-time high. Perhaps it is time to lower the level of our rhetoric and raise the level of respect for our democratic government by acknowledging that those elected to office were supported by a majority of voters.

If this were put into practice, union stewards’ heads would explode. Their thugs’ tactics would have to stop. In 2011, I covered several townhall meetings hosted by Sen. John Pederson, Reps. King Banaian and Steve Gottwalt, including one at the Haven Township town hall. Public employee union member after public union member berated these elected officials. They were treated like human piñatas. In my opinion, Sen. Pederson, Rep. Banaian and Rep. Gottwalt had earned the right to respond in kind. They didn’t.

A month later, prior to the shutdown but after the session, Sen. Pederson and Rep. Banaian were invited to a union event to explain their votes on the budget. It’s important to note that the unions contacted them the afternoon of the event. It’s important to note that neither legislator attended the ambush (my words). It’s noteworthy that the unions had 2 empty chairs on the stage of the Atwood Theater. The event organizers then told the audience (the theater was less than one-third full) that Sen. Pederson and Rep. Banaian couldn’t be bothered to attend, omitting the part about them not getting the invitation to the event until that afternoon.

It’s getting tiresome to have people who want to grow the private sector economy while limiting government to the things it’s supposed to do per the Constitution are vilified while people who want government to do everything are applauded for their compassion.

Gov. Dayton, the DFL legislature and the DFL’s special interest allies haven’t hesitated in vilifying conservatives at every opportunity. They’ve gotten personal, too. They’ve accused Republicans of being racists because Republicans disagreed with President Obama’s policies.

Suggesting that conservatives hate government and think it’s evil is spin. It’s also highly inaccurate. Conservatives just want government to live within its means. Conservatives want to know that the taxpayers’ money is being spent wisely. They don’t want to hear about drinking fountains that cost $50,000 each. They don’t want to hear about universities spending taxpayers’ money on events that teach women how to have better orgasms.

The people attending the Shakopee town hall are tired of DFL politicians taking their taxes for granted. They expressed that frustration loudly because their other attempts went unnoticed. If politicians ignore the people, it’s only natural that the people will use whatever way works to get heard.

Tags: Mark Dayton, Townhall Meetings, State Government Shutdown, Drinking Fountains, Union Thugs, DFL, King Banaian, Steve Gottwalt, John Pederson, MNGOP

It’s no longer debatable whether the DFL hates business. They certainly hate entrepreneurs. Rep. Ryan Winkler’s minimum wage legislation is the ultimate combination of nanny-statism and heavyhanded government:

The Minnesota House likely will approve a minimum wage increase later this week, after a committee Monday expanded the bill’s reach by doubling state-required parental leave for a new child.

Under the amended measure by Rep Ryan Winkler, DFL-Golden Valley, employers would be required to grant 12-week leaves after a birth or adoption.

The House Ways and Means Committee tacked the provision onto Winkler’s bill that aims to raise the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour in 2015 from today’s $6.15. Then the wage would automatically increase.

Why would employers do business in a state that requires 12 weeks of maternity leave? For an employer, that means an extra 6 weeks of doing without an employee. That’s almost a fourth of the year without an employee. This is nanny-statism that’d make Michael Bloomberg proud.

That’s before talking about raising the minimum wage by almost 50% in 3 years. To cover the cost of higher wages, they’ll hire fewer people. Rep. Winkler should rename his legislation the ‘Growing the Nanny State and Killing Jobs bill’ because that’s what this bill will do.

A few weeks ago, Rep. Winkler tried spinning his legislation by saying that raising the minimum wage doesn’t hurt employment. At the time, I argued that that isn’t accurate. It’s true that raising the minimum wage doesn’t always hurt employment. It’s equally true that there are times, like during a weak economy, when raising the minimum wage kills jobs.

Businesses that are having trouble making money simply won’t hire people if the cost of wages increases. When the increased minimum wage is increased dramatically, like what’s being done in Rep. Winkler’s legislation the hiring freeze is that much more dramatic.

Further, employers seeking to expand will cross Minnesota off their list of destinations when they see this level of regulation and overbearing government. Business starts will shrink. Mitch’s post shows that people are already leaving Minnesota:

Though data can deliver mixed messages, data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) point to one clear and worrisome fact: Minnesotans and their wealth are moving to Southern and Western states. Between 1995 and 2010, an average of $340 million in income—based on 2010 dollars—moved each year from Minnesota to other states—a movement totaling more than $5 billion over 15 years. The states that on net receive the most Minnesota income tend to be low tax states such as Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington.

It pains me to say this but it’s got to be said: Minnesota isn’t special anymore. The lakes are still beautiful. The woods are still picturesque. The regulatory burden is excessive. Do-gooder organizations like Conservation Minnesota are attempting to kill industry in northern Minnesota. Tax rates are confiscatory. The special interests, aka AFSCME, MAPE and ABM, run the DFL. They say jump. The DFL asks ‘off what’?

Sacred cows abound within the budget. Bills pass through this legislature because we have to ‘invest in higher education’ or all-day Pre-K or whatever else the special interests demand of the DFL.

It’s time for the DFL to wake up to the fact that they’ve reached a breaking point on excessive taxation, irresponsible spending and overregulation. These statistics prove that people are voting with their mortgages (and their feet) on what’s excessive.

These paragraphs are a stinging indictment of Rep. Winkler’s bill:

Republicans and business leaders generally said the higher wage would hurt Minnesota firms. “There is no capacity on Main Street to absorb any more expense,” Rep. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, said.

Rep. Bud Nornes, R-Fergus Falls, said he talked to a restaurateur who makes $60,000 profit a year. The new minimum wage requirement would cost him $60,000, Nornes said. “Why should he stay in business?” Nornes asked. “We’re going to lose some.”

As damning as that information is, and it’s plenty damning, it’s nothing compared with this admission:

However, Rep. Tim Mahoney, DFL-St. Paul, added: “It is a small number of businesses that will be hurt.”

Isn’t that reassuring. It’s only a few businesses that will get hurt. I’m sure that’ll ease those businesses’ minds.

The DFL can argue all it wants but capital flight from Minnesota exists. It’s just that the delusional idiots running the DFL think it doesn’t exist. In the end, reality trumps theory.

This Tribune op-ed highlights the tax increases being imposed on Minnesotans. Here’s a glimpse:

The tax plans and budget proposals that’ll be debated and hammered together in St. Paul in the coming weeks do include healthy tax hikes on wealthy Minnesotans. But they also include taxes and fees every one of us will pay, no matter what our income level. In fact, some of the new and rising “revenue sources,” as lawmakers like to call tax hikes and fee increases, would be paid, disproportionately, by lower-income Minnesotans.

Most notably on the table are tax increases on beer, wine and booze, in a state that hasn’t had a tax increase on liquor in 26 years. But now we face the prospect of paying 7 cents more in taxes per drink and as much as $4 more in taxes for a case of beer.

The state’s cigarette tax also is almost certain to go up, to $2.83, a $1.60 increase, under a House proposal.

And if you thought Minnesota’s first-ever tax on clothing died when the governor dropped it after his initial budget proposal, well, not so fast. It’s still alive in the Senate, along with a long list of other previously untaxed services, including on car repairs, over-the-counter drugs like aspirin, tattoos and even dating services.

Sports fans can be on alert, too. The Senate has a new 13 percent wholesale tax on sports jerseys and other memorabilia to help cover the state’s portion of funding for a new Minnesota Vikings football stadium. The total sales tax on sports memorabilia, including sales tax, could push 20 percent in Minnesota.

If you think this was a Strib op-ed, I have to say that it isn’t. It’s in the Duluth News Tribune. If you thought that the Strib editorial board would write something like this, you really need to get back in touch with reality.

Two weekends ago, Matt Entenza tried spinning the DFL’s tax increases, which I wrote about here. Here’s how Entenza tried spinning the DFL’s tax increases:

Part of what Democrats are responding to is an election where people said ‘We’re tired of higher class sizes. We’re tired of roads that are falling apart and a Human Services Department that doesn’t work as well as it should.

Policy lightweights like Entenza know that raising taxes on cigarettes, income and liquor won’t fix a single pothole. They’re fixed by revenues from the gas tax. Period.

The heart of the DFL’s tax increases are summarized in this theory:

The type and formula of most schemes of philanthropy or humanitarianism is this: A and B put their heads together to decide what C shall be made to do for D. The radical vice of all these schemes, from a sociological point of view, is that C is not allowed a voice in the matter, and his position, character, and interests, as well as the ultimate effects on society through C’s interests, are entirely overlooked. I call C the Forgotten Man.

Last fall, the DFL ran on the Forgotten Man theory of taxation. This year, however, the Senate DFL, the ones that can’t count straight, have decided that the middle class aren’t paying their fair share. In addition to raising the plethora of regressive taxes listed earlier, the Senate, in Sen. Bakk’s finite wisdom, has decided to raise income taxes on the middle class.

What’s interesting is the sports memorabilia tax. It should be renamed the Boy-did-I-screw-up-the-Vikings-Stadium-funding-bill tax increase. Thanks to the Dayton administration’s willingness to buy into the gambling industries’ wildly optimistic projections on e-tabs, the state is forced to rethink their funding of the Vikings stadium.

Had the Dayton administration been honest about the e-tabs projections, the stadium likely wouldn’t have gotten support. Then again, if the DFL had honestly campaigned on raising taxes on everyone, they wouldn’t have gavels this year.

Thanks to the Duluth News Tribune’s editiorial, Minnesotans are finding out that the DFL won’t hesitate in lying about taxing the middle class and the working poor.

Tags: Tax The Rich, Mark Dayton, Tax Increases, Cigarette Tax, Income Tax, Liquor Tax, Sports Memorabilia Tax, Tom Bakk, Middle Class Tax Increase, DFL, William Graham Sumner, The Forgotten Man, Economics, Philanthropy

This statement on Workday Minnesota’s website is spin. Take this statement:

MAPE, the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, and AFSCME Council 5 denounced the corporate-backed “United for Jobs” initiative as a misleading and deceptive paid advertising campaign. The ads target Governor Mark Dayton’s proposal to raise more revenue for public services by raising taxes on the wealthiest Minnesotans.

“While the TV and radio ads are designed to make the audience believe that ‘United for Jobs’ wants to safeguard Minnesota families and small businesses, in reality, ‘United for Jobs’ is funded by corporate advocacy groups that want to protect the pocket books of their multi-millionaire members,” the unions said.

Here’s the TV ad that’s been running for about a week:

Here’s the transcript of the ad:

NARRATOR: Minnesotans pay some of the highest taxes in America. Now some Minnesota politicians want you to pay even more. They’d raise the income tax to be the second highest in the country to fuel a nearly $2 billion spending increase. There’s a more responsible way. Go line-by-line. Cut the waste. Do your jobs. Make government more efficient and effective. Be accountable for every taxpayer dollar you spend. Tell Gov. Dayton and DFL legislators they don’t need more of your money. They need to spend it better.

While it’s true that the ad highlights the DFL’s proposed income tax increase, it’s misleading and deceptive to say that the ad “targets Gov. Mark Dayton’s proposal to raise more revenue for public services by raising taxes on the wealthiest Minnesotans.”

First, the ad highlights the need for politicians to “go line-by-line” through the budget and to “cut the waste” from the budget. In that context, the focus is on the legislature to do its job of spending the taxpayers’ money wisely.

Second, the ad points the spotlight at “Gov. Dayton and DFL legislators,” not just Gov. Dayton. That’s perfectly appropriate because it highlights the fact that Gov. Dayton, Sen. Bakk and Speaker Thissen are threatening to raise the rates on regressive taxes as well as raising the top income tax rate. Then there’s this statement:

The unions said the ads also mislead the audience into believing that the Governor’s tax proposal for the wealthiest 2 percent of Minnesotans will raise taxes on “hard-working Minnesotans” – insinuating that all Minnesotans will get a tax increase. This is not true. The Governor’s proposal is a targeted tax increase to have the wealthiest pay their fair share, the unions said.

The unions’ statements are intentionally misleading. Their leadership knows that the DFL’s tax bills propose raising the tax on cigarettes by $1.60 per pack and the liquor excise tax from $4.60 a barrel on beer to $27.75 per barrel.

Sin taxes are necessarily regressive. They hit people who aren’t “the wealthiest Minnesotans” because they’re paid by everyone regardless of income. I’d love hearing Eliot Seide explain how AFSCME’s statement is accurate. In fact, I’d sell tickets to that event. I’d sell popcorn at that event, too. It’d be fun watching Seide slip and slither, twist and turn while doing his best to not answer my questions.

Seide, Gov. Dayton, Speaker Thissen, Sen. Bakk and their allies know this ad hits them hard. That’s why they’re responding with this dishonest counterattack.

Seide and company better be prepared to spend tons of money on their advertising campaign because the DFL has given these pro-business groups tons upon tons of ammunition with their tax bills. They’d better pack a lunch for this fight because AFSCME and MAPE will be fighting this fight for quite awhile.

Tags: Tax Increases, Cigarette Tax, Income Tax, Special Interests, Eliot Seide, AFSCME Council 5, MAPE, Middle Class Tax Increase, Tax The Rich, Mark Dayton, Tom Bakk, Paul Thissen, DFL, United For Jobs, Capitalism, MNGOP

It anything comes through in this statement, it’s the DFL’s stated intention to spend the taxpayers’ money recklessly. Here’s an example:

Aiming for a course correction after a decade of disinvestment, the House and Senate are likely to take up historic education bills next week at the State Capitol. Some the features of those bills include:

• Investing in what works – early learning: New investments to fund early education and all-day kindergarten, helping Minnesota students get on the right track early.
• Strategic funding for K-12 schools: Increasing per pupil funding for Minnesota schools throughout the state.
• Reducing college tuition and debt: Making the first investment in higher education in a decade to ease the burden of skyrocketing tuition and student debt.