Now that Gov. Dayton has thrown another of his temper tantrums, it’s time to let some of the DFL’s front organizations to step forward with wildly foolish proposals. This time, Move MN is the DFL front organization that’s proposing to raise taxes without thinking things through:
Senate Transportation Chairman Scott Dibble, D-Minneapolis, said he will release his plan in coming days, but unlike the GOP it is expected to include a transit component. It likely will include some form of a gasoline tax increase and a Twin Cities tax for transit.
Dibble said his plan will look a lot like one Dayton has sketched out and that transportation advocates in Move MN propose. The Move MN plan mixes a wholesale gasoline sales tax increase with higher vehicle license fees. Also included is an additional tax in the Twin Cities to fund transit needs there.
According to KSTP’s reporting Sunday, Move MN’s plan would raise taxes and fees by $8,500,000,000 over the next decade. That’s approximately $1,700,000,000 this biennium. That’s on top of the $2,400,000,000 increase in taxes and fees from the 2013 session. That might be the most frightening news of the article if not for this:
Estimates for transportation needs in the next 10 years range from $2 billion to $6 billion.
That’s frightening! I don’t want estimates on what Minnesota’s transportation needs for the next decade are. I want a detailed list of aging roads and bridges that need repair. I want that list prioritized by which roads and bridges are oldest, which roads and bridges that have the highest expected traffic over the next decade.
That ‘estimate’ sounds more like a lobbyist’s wish list than it sounds like a responsible list of high priority project that Minnesota needs. A responsible estimate would say Minnesota’s transportation needs are between $2,000,000,000 and $2,400,000,000. A reckless estimate, like the kind I expect from Gov. Dayton and the DFL, would estimate Minnesota’s transportation system needing between $2,000,000,000 and $6,000,000,000.
Then there’s Move MN’s estimate. Move MN’s estimate that Minnesota’s transportation system needs $8,500,000,000 is what I’d expect if I grabbed a pedestrian off the street, got him drunk, put him in a blindfold, then told him to throw darts to determine what Minnesota’s transportation system needs are. That’s likely to be just as accurate as Move MN’s estimate.
Why are they not talking about adding fees or increasing fares on the blight rail and bus services? Why are drivers always footing the bill for every liberal transit wet dream? And why am I as a Twin Cities resident having to fork over more sales tax money for a public transit system I never use? My sales tax in St. Paul will be 9% shortly.
Chad, it’s time to join forces with other like-minded people in defeating Move MN’s & the DFL’s tax increases. It’s time to pressure legislators & write LTEs complaining about all the tax increases you’re getting hit with.
Finally, tell people you won’t hesitate in moving out of the Twin Cities if the tax increases keep coming.