Archive for the ‘Regulations’ Category
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.
MN2020, the progressive think tank run by former DFL gubernatorial candidate Matt Entenza, is defending Gov. Dayton’s budget:
Minnesota 2020, a progressive think tank that defends Minnesota’s tradition of higher taxes and higher spending, has released a new report suggesting those raw figures are seriously misleading.
Adjust for inflation and the ups and downs in state general fund spending caused by accounting shifts and federal stimulus funding in previous budget cycles and the numbers show a different picture: $40.6 billion in spending in 2002-03, $35.4 billion in the current budget, $35.7 billion in the upcoming budget if Dayton gets his way, and $37 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars for 2016-17.
Even if the governor, who wants to raise income taxes on the wealthiest 2 percent of Minnesotans to support higher spending, is able to enact his entire budget, less than a third of the real-dollar cuts of the past decade would be restored, said Jeff Van Wychen, director of tax policy for Minnesota 2020.
“These cuts are eroding Minnesota’s fiscal foundation and they need to be reversed,” said Van Wychen during a press conference in St. Peter, one of three held by the organization in southern Minnesota Tuesday.
Van Wychen’s alarmist rhetoric should be ignored. When Andy Aplikowski wrote this post, he highlighted the DFL’s habit of saying one thing, then doing another. Here’s the Pi-Press article Andy highlighted:
Following a hush-hush courtship, top Minnesota lawmakers acknowledged Tuesday, April 16, that they are compiling a multimillion-dollar package of public subsidies and tax breaks to encourage an Illinois-based pharmaceutical firm to add 200 high-paying jobs and undertake a substantial construction project in their state.
The extent of the public offerings is becoming known months into a high-level recruitment. The name of the company, Baxter Healthcare Corp., had been constrained by a confidentiality agreement entered into by Gov. Mark Dayton’s administration. Even lawmakers who have begun voting on the package didn’t know which firm would benefit.
In other words, the Dayton administration is fine with cutting taxes if they’re picking the winners and losers. This proves that the Dayton administration isn’t that worried with “the rich” paying “their fair share” as long as cutting taxes on corporations creates jobs. The DFL won’t admit that they’d be better off cutting taxes across the board and letting companies flourish.
Whether it’s the DFL or their political allies like MN2020, they simply won’t admit that they’re hurting Minnesota’s economy with their high tax, high regulation economic agenda.
This is yet another admission that the DFL’s legislative agenda doesn’t lead to creating jobs. The only time the DFL’s economic agenda creates jobs is when they throw their legislation out the window.
Van Wychen’s talk about inflation-adjusted budget figures quietly avoids talking about the money that’s appropriated that’s totally wasted on foolishness. It’s a clever tactic to ignore a real problem by talking about something that isn’t a problem. Inflation-adjusted budgets assume, incorrectly, that a) government operations can’t and haven’t been improved and b) every penny appropriated in 2002 was spent efficiently.
It’s foolish to think that every penny of any biennial budget was spent on something we need and was spent efficiently. That’s like believing that businesses can’t grow without the government’s assistance.
The bottom line on these discussions is that a) the Dayton administration just admitted that his economic policies don’t work and b) budgets should be based on spending money efficiently on the things we need, not what special interests want. On that count, the DFL is 0-for-2.
Tags: Minnesota2020, Matt Entenza, Mark Dayton, Corporate Welfare, Baxter Healthcare Corp., The Rich, DFL, Tax Cuts, Jobs, Fortune 500 Companies, Pro-Growth Economic Policies, Capitalism, MNGOP
Sen. Ron Johnson, (R-WI), has introduced a project that illustrates how the federal government ruins lives. It’s called the Victims of Government Project. This video explains how the Army Corps of Engineers ruined a man’s life for trying to prevent flooding in his neighborhood:
The documentation of how the federal government, specifically the Army Corps of Engineers, uses the Clean Water Act as a weapon against private property owners is instructive. It should tell every landowner that the government, including the Interior Department, the Army Corps of Engineers, the EPA, the Energy Department and other government agencies, are the enemy because militant environmentalists have infiltrated those agencies and departments.
To them, “the environment” is an article of faith. The left’s obsession with controlling people’s lives through regulatory agencies is frightening. The thought that there’s a group of activists that think they have the right, responsibility and authority to tell private property owners what to do is frightening.
Thanks to the Clean Water Act, militant environmentalists have the legislative authority to wreak havoc on private citizens’ lives. By most people’s opinion, Steve Lathrop tried doing a good thing. According to the government’s own recommendations, he did was the government didn’t do. As a result of his taking the initiative what experts said needed to be done rather than waiting through another series of do-nothing studies, Mr. Lathrop got stripped of his wealth.
Predictably, liberal activists aren’t happy with Sen. Johnson. Scot Ross of One Wisconsin Now wrote Sen. Johnson. Here’s what he said in his letter:
“Spending your time, and our money, producing YouTube videos doesn’t move us one iota closer to solving any of the challenges facing our nation. In fact it seems the real victims of government are your constituents who were counting on you to work for them in the United States Senate.”
Solving problems is what elected officials are supposed to do. The Army Corps of Engineers, the EPA and the Interior Department use the Clean Water Act to control what private citizens do with their property. This is a problem everywhere in the United States. Regulations and procedures are put into place. Then citizens like Mr. Lathrop follow the permitting procedures of one agency, only to be told that he didn’t comply with another agency’s regulations. Then the process starts again.
Putting a video together that highlights how the federal government destroys families’ lives is the right tool to affect positive change. That’s what Sen. Johnson was elected to do. Especially in this instance, that’s the right thing to do. When families do what the federal government recommends, they should be rewarded. They shouldn’t be punished.
People across the political spectrum should be outraged by the government’s reprehensible conduct. The Army Corps of Engineers’ actions can’t be justified. Their reprehensible actions can only be rationalized.
It’s time that Congress put common sense restrictions on the Clean Water Act. It’s been used as a weapon for far too long.
UPDATE: Follow this link for more information on Sen. Johnson’s Victims of Government Project.
Tags: Army Corps of Engineers, Clean Water Act, Private Property Rights, EPA, Interior Department, Bureau of Land Management, Militant Environmentalists, Progressives, Ron Johnson, Victims of Government Project, Conservatism
Last week’s fiscal cliff deal brought reality crashing down on some unsuspecting people’s heads, according to this delightful, tongue-in-cheek column by Joseph Curl.
Using quotes from a comment thread on DemocratUnderground, Curl’s article shows how uninformed some Democrats were about President Obama’s tax increase. This is a perfect illustration of how uninformed they were:
Some in the thread argued that the new tax, or the end of the “holiday,” which makes it a new tax, wouldn’t really amount to much. One calculated it would cost about $86 a month for most people. “Honeycombe8,” though, said that amount is nothing to sneeze at.
“$86 a month is a lot. That would pay for … Groceries for a week, as someone said. More than what I pay for parking every month, after my employer’s contribution to that. A new computer after a year. A new quality pair of shoes … every month. Months of my copay for my hormones. A new thick coat (on sale or at discount place). It would pay for what I spend on my dogs every month … food, vitamins, treats.”
I’d like to welcome these fools to the Democrats’ middle class squeeze tax increases. This tax increase isn’t likely to change Honeycombe8′s voting habits. I’d be stunned if it did. Still, the Democrats, starting with President Obama and including Sen. Reid and Nancy Pelosi, can’t fight their tax increase fever. With that trio of ideologues, it’s always about ideology, It isn’t about what’s best for America.
Last week, I wrote a 2 part series about how the DFL isn’t the party of the people anymore. (See here and here.) DC Democrats are just as out of step with the people as the DFL is here in Minnesota.
Here’s another dose of reality for the left:
The Twittersphere was even funnier.
“Really, how am I ever supposed to pay off my student loans if my already small paycheck keeps getting smaller? Help a sister out, Obama,” wrote “Meet Virginia.” “Nancy Thongkham” was much more furious. “F***ing Obama! F*** you! This taking out more taxes s*** better f***ing help me out!! Very upset to see my paycheck less today!”
Though the Democrats’ anger is sky-high, that hasn’t led to clear thinking:
Of course, dozens of posters on DemocraticUnderground sought to blame it all (as usual) on President George W. Bush. “Your taxes went up because the leaders need to dig us out of this criminal deficit hole we are in which has been caused because taxes were too low during the Bush years. Everyone has to help by spreading the wealth around a little. Power to the correct people!” posted “Orinoco.”
This is typical Democratic stupidity. Spending has skyrocketed during the Obama administration. Economic growth has lagged, thanks directly to President Obama’s policies. Revenues have dropped because he’s attacked industry after industry.
Let’s repeat this fact: these deficits are the direct result of President Obama’s policies. The ACA is killing jobs by giving small businesses who employ fewer than 50 people an incentive to not hire additional workers. The EPA is killing jobs, too. Last year’s regulations have led to 98 coal-fired power plants to either close their doors or to announce their shutting.
There’s just one thing to say to people who were foolish enough to vote for President who now are upset that he’s raised their taxes: You bought it. Now you’re paying for it. You’re getting what you deserve.
Tags: President Obama, Taxes, Tax Increases, FICA Tax, Tax Holiday, Unemployment, ACA, EPA, Regulations, Democratic Underground, Democrats
It’s indisputable that the Twin Cities DFL has repeatedly voted repeatedly to kill precious metals mining projects in Ely and Hoyt Lakes. It’s indisputable that Iron Range DFL legislators didn’t criticize the State Executive Council when they shafted miners this week. They’ve tried spinning their votes in a variety of ways but the truth is inescapable: the metro DFL hates mining and will go to extraordinary lengths to stop future mining projects from becoming reality.
It isn’t surprising that Gov. Dayton voted to shaft the miners. As Prof. Kent Kaiser highlighted in an op-ed over a year ago, Gov. Dayton has a history of shafting miners:
Indeed, Dayton’s actions this month were more consistent with his actions two decades ago. At that time, when he was on the State Executive Council as state auditor, he called for the postponement of mining lease votes so he could consult first with the Sierra Club.
While Gov. Dayton’s actions throughout history have been disgusting, they pale in comparison to what he’s done, with the help of the DFL’s militant environmentalist allies, to miners and the Iron Range.
After the 2010 U.S. Census, it was noted that the median household income for St. Louis County, which is the heart of the Iron Range, was $44,941, compared with the statewide average of $57,243. That’s a $12,302 disparity between St. Louis County and the statewide average. It gets worse when compared against Sherburne County’s median household income, which is $71,704, a disparity of $26,763.
It isn’t just the income disparity that paints the truth about the DFL. It’s the fact that the Twin Metals project in Ely and the PolyMet project in Hoyt Lakes would create 1,000 high-paying mining jobs that would end that income disparity while dramatically lifting Iron Range’s economy from mediocre to exceptional.
Notice that I said those project would create 1,000 mining jobs. That’s before factoring in the support jobs those operations would require. That’s before factoring in the possibility of manufacturing operations moving into cities like Hibbing, Grand Rapids and Eveleth to take advantage of the minerals.
That’s before talking about how other mining projects would boost school funding through mining leases in the school land swap areas that the DFL and their militant environmentalist allies are preventing. Some estimates say that these projects could add $2,000,000,000 to the school trust fund over the life of those mining operations.
The clear message from Conservation Minnesota and Friends of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is that precious metal mining is a different, more environmentally unsafe, type of mining. Kennecott has a sterling reputation for limiting and reducing emissions. While this video is of their mining operation in Utah, they were good stewards of their Flambeau River mining operation in Wisconsin. Here’s what their Flambeau River mine:
This link includes an aerial photo of what the Flambeau Mine looks like 16 years after it ceased operations.
Conservation Minnesota, another subsidiary of the Dayton Politics family of political operations, talks the environmentalist talk. Kennecott walks the environmentalist walk.
It’s clear that Kennecott is the real steward of the land.
Tags: Conservation Minnesota, Alida Messinger, Sierra Club, Mark Dayton, Environmentalists, DFL, Kennecott Mining, Daybreak, Utah, Flambeau River, Wisconsin, Twin Metals, PolyMet, Minnesota, Conservationists, Median Household Income, Jobs
Mitch Berg’s attempt to educate Dave Mindeman about economics is a hopeless situation, though it is fun watching. Mitch tried explaining that Mindeman’s “Blizzard of facts” didn’t put things in context. Here’s part of Mr. Mindeman’s argument that the economy does better under Democrats’ leadership than under the GOP:
And just in case Mr. Berg wants to highlight Obama’s tenure….
A. Corporate profits have surged an average of 51.8% under Obama, the best out of any stretch of party control since 1933, S&P said.
Mitch was right in highlighting this:
Except it’s not because business is banging along on eight cylinders. It’s because businesses are sitting on their cash. They’re laying off workers and outsourcing jobs. They are not investing in new plants, new products and new hires.
Mitch’s observation is important because it highlights the fact that businesses aren’t expanding because President Obama’s regulatory policies (Dodd-Frank, the PPACA) discourage long-term economic growth. Rather than admitting that Mitch has a legitimate point, Mr. Mindeman threw this hissy fit:
So these are the “job creators”? They would rather sit on their wealth and tank the economy than move the country forward?
Glad the Republicans take advice from these characters.
The insinuation is that business is waiting for a better “business climate”. And what is that exactly? Is there a need for more workers? Unemployment says no. Better tax rates? If they have all this cash, why would they need tax cuts?
That’s proof that Mr. Mindeman isn’t an expert in connecting economic dots. That’s why I’m putting this post together. In the spirit of bipartisanship, I’ll answer Mindeman’s questions:
The insinuation is that business is waiting for a better “business climate”. And what is that exactly?
The best explanation I have for what constitutes a pro-growth business climate is a period in time when entrepreneurs know that regulations will be relatively stable, that labor costs will be reasonable and the opportunity to make profits is good. Right now, entrepreneurs know that President Obama’s administration is a regulation-making nightmare.
Entrepreneurs have said forthrightly that they don’t know if they’ll be complying with regulations today but might be out of compliance a week from now. Why would a business hire additional people if he isn’t certain about what regulations he has to comply with?
Better tax rates? If they have all this cash, why would they need tax cuts?
Nobody’s talking about tax cuts at this point. What’s been proposed is eliminating corporate welfare, broadening the tax base in exchange for lower rates and tax simplification.
So these are the “job creators”? They would rather sit on their wealth and tank the economy than move the country forward?
First, entrepreneurs can’t wait to create jobs and wealth. With this administration’s strangling load of new regulations and the threat of massive tax increases in the immediate future, these entrepreneurs would be foolish to put their capital at risk.
Second, this administration’s treatment of capitalists like villains isn’t conducive to job, wealth and prosperity creation. Telling businesses to put their money at risk so the government can confiscate it through outrageous tax rates is the best way to guarantee miniscule job growth, which is what we have.
But let’s look at Berg’s “bonus” questions…..
Why is Paul Krugman’s wet-dream state California floating toward the surface, its belly slowly rotating toward the sky, with a private sector that is leaving the state as fast as moving trucks can be secured?
California was the victim of the Republican “wet dream”, Proposition 13….which has shackled California legislation for decades. And the idea that super majorities are required to pass tax legislation (another GOP “wet dream”.) Now that California has formed Democratic super majorities, we shall see how the state can work.
This fight’s outcome has been determined. California will be a mess for the forseeable future. Prop 13 wasn’t the problem. After Prop 13 passed, economic growth in California continued.
What’s crippling California is their pension system and their cultish adherance to insane environmental policies. Environmental policies have crippled the agriculture economof California’s Central Valley. A different part of California’s environmental policies are preventing the state from tapping into vast energy resources lying just beneath the surface.
Rather than investing in job-creating fossil fuel project that would create wealth and prosperity, California took the opposite approach. They’re investing heavily in failed green energy economies. The only jobs the green industry has created are being filled with bankruptcy lawyers.
No amount of tax increases will fix California’s economy if they continue to ‘invest in’ failing green energy projects while not tapping into fossil fuel reserves. No amount of Mindeman’s arguments will put that in better context.
Tags: Blogs, Progressives, Economy, Tax Increases, Regulations, PPACA, Dodd-Frank, California, Green Jobs, Liberalism, Entrpreneurship, Capitalism, Prosperity, Conservatism
This article makes lots of sense in saying the ACA might well go the way of the BCRA, aka McCain-Feingold. First, here’s what Catron said about the process that got rid of the BCRA:
Another provision of Obamacare being challenged in court is the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). IPAB, you will recall, is Obamacare’s rationing board. When PPACA was signed into law, Congress transferred much of its power to this committee, which will decide what services will be approved by Medicare and how much the providers of those services will be paid. The Goldwater Institute has filed a lawsuit, Coons v. Geithner, which challenges the constitutionality of IPAB under the separation of powers doctrine.
Congress has sole authority on setting the parameters of service. Congress essentially said that they were getting out of the oversight business and that they were giving future presidents a blank check on health care.
This might be the biggest sticking point in the ACA:
And, no list of Obamacare lawsuits would be complete without mentioning the Oklahoma lawsuit challenging the illegal IRS rule by which the Obama administration will attempt to funnel tax credits and subsidies through federally-created exchanges, despite the law’s stipulation that such premium-assistance can only be offered via state-run exchanges. This litigation is, in many ways, the most important of all the lawsuits. Without its insurance exchanges, and the accompanying subsidies, Obamacare will crash and burn.
The bill’s language is quite clearly written. Only those people who purchase their health insurance through state-run exchanges can get premium-assistance subsidies. If the Obama administration can’t extend these subsidies to exchanges run by the federal government, they’re in a difficult position because tons of states have said that they aren’t establishing state-run exchanges:
Over the past week, the list of states not participating in the system has grown to nineteen as the states of Wisconsin, Ohio and Nebraska chose to join sixteen others in rejecting the state health insurance exchange that is called for under the Obamacare law.
Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin announced his choice in a letter to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Friday writing, “No matter which option is chosen, Wisconsin taxpayers will not have meaningful control over the health care policies and services sold to Wisconsin residents.”
Maine Governor Paul LePage wrote to Sebelius explaining why his state won’t implement the state exchange saying, “In the end, a state exchange puts the burden onto the states and the expense onto our taxpayers, without giving the state the authority and flexibility we must have to best meet the needs of the people of Maine.”
It’s clear that at least 19 states are opting not to establish state-run exchanges, meaning the federal government must implement fed-run exchanges. That’s without undecided states making their decisions. Those states include Florida, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Arkansas and Iowa.
NOTE: That’s the status as of Nov. 16. It’s likely that at least half of the states that are undecided will reject state-run exchanges, driving the total north of 25 states. If all those states reject establishing state-run exchanges, that represents approximately 162,616,000, which is significantly more than half of the U.S. population of 309,000,000.
Not only wouldn’t those people get subsidized health insurance but it would force the federal government to foot the bills for the exchanges. That will dramatically drive up the federal government’s annual deficits. If you think they’re outrageous now, you’re right. If the federal government has to run 25-28 individual exchanges, these deficits will seem like the good old days.
Killing the PPACA can’t happen soon enough. Once that’s done, serious people can implement real health care reform.
Tags: PPACA, SCOTUS, Barack Obama, Health Exchanges, IPAB, Separation of Powers, IRS, Premium Support, McCain-Feingold, First Amendment, BCRA, Citizens United, Deficits, Democrats
One thing that’s coming Minnesotans’ way is a tax increase. I predicted here that we’d see an income tax increase on “the rich” as well as a sales tax increase because the DFL will pass legislation that starts taxing clothing sales. This article, though, says that a tax increase isn’t a guarantee, even with the DFL running the legislature and a DFL governor. That’s pure fiction and Ann Lenczewski knows it:
Gov. Mark Dayton is expected to launch the discussion in January when he unveils his plan for making the tax system fairer and simpler. But Dayton’s long-promised income tax increase on top earners could be a tough sell, even with Democrats now in control of the House and Senate.
Tim Pugmire should know better. He should know that that’s fiction. In 2006, Mike Hatch ran on an agenda of increasing spending without raising taxes. Here’s what Hatch said then:
He cast Pawlenty as too stingy with education, responsible for large class sizes and rising college tuition. He tagged him for an inadequate response to soaring health care costs and the emerging biosciences industry. He promised more state investment in those things. Significantly, he said, “we can do this without raising taxes.”
I didn’t believe the DFL then. I don’t believe the DFL now. The DFL has to pay to their political allies that contributed to their campaigns. The DFL’s allies didn’t do this out of the kindness of their heart. (First, it’s impossible to think Eliot Seide has a heart.)
There are government agencies to restaff. More importantly, militant environmentalist organizations are demanding that the DFL beef up the MPCA and the EQB. It isn’t just anyone demanding these things, either. It’s Alida Messinger making these demands. As the majority owner of the DFL and ABM, their messaging machine, what she demands, she gets. And she’s demanding that these environmental agencies get beefed up.
Next up to the trough will be mayors demanding that their LGA be made whole again. They’ll be led by Duluth Mayor Ness, R.T. Rybak and Chris Coleman. And there are lots of mayors who will be insisting that their LGA be restored.
Frans said that almost everyone he talked to believes the tax code is out of date, and they are particularly concerned that property taxes are too high.
“As I’ve been taking the three-legged stool around to describe the three major sources of revenue, the property tax, the sales tax and income tax, people are concerned that the property tax leg now makes up about 40 percent of the three different major sources of revenue,” Frans said. “They believe that’s too much, and it’s something we need to address.”
Frans said a comprehensive approach to tax reform would also include a recalibration and broadening of the sales tax. In addition, he said, Dayton still wants every Minnesotan paying his or her fair share of income taxes. That proposal, which first surfaced in the 2010 campaign, would target the wealthiest 2 percent for an increase.
One reason why property taxes make up 40% of the revenues is because idiots like R.T. Rybak make terrible spending decisions, then pass the buck on through higher property taxes.
Another reason why is because Minnesota’s economy isn’t booming like it should. If we had a flourishing economy, like North Dakota’s, income tax revenues would make up a bigger share of the revenues. Instead, our biggest employers are the university system, the federal government and state government.
That’s way too much government to pay for — except in the minds of Gov. Dayton, Alida Messinger, the DFL and their special interest allies.
Tags: Taxes, Tax Increases, Sales Tax, Income Tax, Spending, LGA, MPCA, EQB, Employee Unions, Eliot Seide, AFSCME Council 5, R.T. Rybak, Drinking Fountains, Bike Trail Coordinator, Public Safety, Chris Coleman, Don Ness, DFL
When Speaker-In-Waiting Paul Thissen announced his committee chairs, one chairmanship in particular jumped out at me. Thissen’s pick of Melissa Hortman as Energy Committee chair should frighten taxpayers. I wrote about Rep. Hortman’s exotic opinions on energy policy in this post. At the time, Rep. Hortman and others were pushing legislation that would’ve implemented a cap and trade policy, with emission standards tied to California’s. In an op-ed, Rep. Hortman cited this statistic:
FACT: More than 75 percent of Minnesotans favor the legislation. In addition to loving our trucks and cars, Minnesotans also value our lakes, rivers and streams; our forests and natural areas; wildlife habitat and clean air; and way of life.
In a statewide poll conducted by the Minnesota Environmental Partnership in fall 2007, more than 75 percent of voters supported legislation requiring new cars and trucks registered in the state to meet lower emission standards.
If Rep. Hortman gets her way, and I’m betting she will, we’ll soon have a cap-and-trade system in Minnesota. It’s best to not think of Rep. Hortman as representing a district. It’s better to think of Rep. Hortman as being assigned to get Alida Messinger’s militant environmentalist agenda passed.
At the time of her pushing cap-and-trade legislation, I did some research into how the California emissions regulatory system would affect car prices. Here’s what I found in 2008:
The California vehicles I checked cost north of $2000 more than the identical vehicle sold here in Minneosta.
As I said at the time, I didn’t do an exhaustive search. That said, I did a lengthy search. Repeatedly, the pattern held.
It’s impossible to think of this pick as anything other than a jesture of obedience to Alida Messinger and a first signal that this legislature will be compliant with the militant environmentalists’ agenda.
This is a stunning admission:
Congress allows states to adopt either the California standard or the federal standard for air emissions from vehicles. California regulated air pollution from motor vehicles before Congress adopted the motor vehicle sections of the Clean Air Act. Because of California’s pre-existing state law on the issue, states were given the choice to follow the California standard or the federal standard but they may not set their own standards that would be different from either the California or the federal standard. Minnesota has not yet adopted the California standard so the EPA regulates motor vehicle emissions in Minnesota. The Clean Car legislation I have authored would have Minnesota opt into the California standard for motor vehicle emissions.
It isn’t a coincidence that California’s gas prices are the highest in the nation. California’s emissions standards have driven up vehicle prices while forcing a glut of exotic fuel mixtures. Think of it as the worst of both worlds: higher priced gas going into higher priced vehicles.
Welcome to Rep. Hortman’s world.
Tags: Energy, Cap And Trade, Melissa Hortman, Gas Prices, Car Prices, Militant Environmentalists, Special Interests, Alida Messinger, Tax Increase, Paul Thissen, Mark Dayton, DFL
One way the left has quietly, insidiously, killed the American economy is through the dirty tricks it plays with unelected bureaucrats. This op-ed by private property rights attorney Karen Budd-Falen shows how the federal government ignores laws while destroying what’s left of people’s private property rights:
Private landowner Andrew VanDenBerg is at the center of the controversy, including now being vilified by a press release issued by the Colorado U.S. Attorney’s Office (part of the U.S. Justice Department).
The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) guarantees access to private property across federal lands. Although the private landowner is required to file an application explaining the location of such access, that application cannot be denied under ANILCA. According to the Senate Committee reports regarding ANILCA, Congress intended to eliminate the federal government’s discretion in allowing adequate and feasible access to inholdings by “direct(ing) the Secretary to grant the owner of an inholding such rights as are necessary to assure adequate access to the inholding and is intended to assure a permanent right of access to the concerned land across, through or over these Federal lands by such State or private owners or occupiers and their successors in interest.”
The problem with the application system however is that the BLM routinely, and many times intentionally and unreasonably, delays processing such applications, thereby denying access to the private property during the processing. It is more common than not to have an application for access delayed for years, all the while denying access to private property.
Why have laws if the federal government routinely ignores those laws with impunity? Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Here’s what should frighten people:
Private landowner Andrew VanDenBerg is at the center of the controversy, including now being vilified by a press release issued by the Colorado U.S. Attorney’s Office (part of the U.S. Justice Department).
The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) guarantees access to private property across federal lands. Although the private landowner is required to file an application explaining the location of such access, that application cannot be denied under ANILCA. According to the Senate Committee reports regarding ANILCA, Congress intended to eliminate the federal government’s discretion in allowing adequate and feasible access to inholdings by “direct(ing) the Secretary to grant the owner of an inholding such rights as are necessary to assure adequate access to the inholding and is intended to assure a permanent right of access to the concerned land across, through or over these Federal lands by such State or private owners or occupiers and their successors in interest.”
The problem with the application system however is that the BLM routinely, and many times intentionally and unreasonably, delays processing such applications, thereby denying access to the private property during the processing. It is more common than not to have an application for access delayed for years, all the while denying access to private property.
Why have federal laws if the federal government routinely ignores those laws, then bullies landowners in their attempt to restrict private property rights? That’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. After having BLM bureaucrats ignore him, Mr. VanDenBerg decided to apply a little common sense to the situation:
In complete frustration at the bureaucratic delays and denials, VanDenBerg decided to use an existing road to get to his property. This road, noted as an existing road on the 2005 San Juan National Forest map and known as County Road 33A, has been in existence since 1886. The road was clearly visible on the ground as well as noted on the federal government’s maps. VanDenBerg cut dead fall timber from the roadway and moved it out of the way. Although he followed the tracks of the road and he did not get out of the roadway that has existed for over 125 years, the BLM charged him with civil trespass charges in federal district court.
This seems pretty straightforward. The road is visible from the ground. It’s highlighted on federal maps. Mr. VanDenBerg removed some dead fall timber from the road because the federal government hadn’t maintained the road like they were obligated to do. In most citizens’ eyes, he should get a good citizens award for his efforts. That isn’t what happened, though:
Not wanting to expend the money on a huge and expensive trial, VanDenBerg decided to settle with the BLM. The settlement agreement states that VanDenBerg does not admit to ANY of the claims or assertions put forward by the government and that he is simply reimbursing the federal government for the reclamation of the dead trees he cut. Although he did not want to settle with the federal government, he recognized that the largest law firm in the world, the U.S. Justice Department, represents the federal government and that he would be buried in litigation costs. He thought a settlement agreement would end the matter and that the BLM would process his application so that he could have the access to his private property that he was promised by Congress.
Before the ink on the agreement was barely dry, the U.S. Attorney’s Office issued a “press release” that incorrectly labels VanDenBerg as a “trespasser” and claiming his attempt to access his own private property is “unauthorized.” The release also states that VanDenBerg’s actions occurred in a “wilderness.” VanDenBerg had disputed all of those statements. Even the settlement agreement itself noted that these statements are only allegations by the U.S., yet their press release states them as fact.
When asked about the false and misleading statements in the press release (in addition to noting that VanDenBerg denied all of the allegations in the settlement agreement), the U.S. Attorney noted in an e-mail to VanDenBerg’s attorney, “While I realize that you and your client were disappointed in the press release,…it is routine for this office to issue press releases on these kinds of settlements, especially in cases where the conduct is of the kind that we hope to deter in the future.”
At this point, you’re thinking ‘that stinks but at least that isn’t happening in my state’, right? Though the specifics in this article are changed, the goal remains the same:
The report recommends a revitalized EQB, with up to 10 staffers, more than double the current level.
Agriculture Commissioner Dave Fredrickson, chair of the EQB, said the environment will benefit if the board can plan ahead.
“They can look into the future and anticipate problems that we may hit head-on, so rather than react, we can as a board act on some of those important issues,” Fredrickson said.
He cited silica sand mining; the board has been asked to do a broad review called a Generic Environmental Impact Statement on that subject. If the board had more staff, it could proceed.
Why must the EQB exist? Here’s what the EQB is:
The Environmental Quality Board includes the heads of nine state agencies and four citizens.
Does Minnesota government need 9 different agencies to protect the environment? That isn’t likely. In fact, it’s exceptionally likely that most of those oversight agencies were created to placate environmentalists.
Whether the federal or state government is involved in the environment, the goal isn’t to protect the environment. It’s to limit people’s private property rights.
Tags: Private Property Rights, Obama Administration, BLM, EPA, DOJ, Lawsuits, U.S. Attorney, Mark Dayton, Minnesota, Special Interests, Environmentalists, Bureaucrats, EQB, Regulations, DFL