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Taxpayers Leauge of Minnesota eUpdate
1. Taxpayers League Live! with David Strom.
2. Let’s just hope the “pathway to a deal” isn’t as successful as the “roadmap to peace.”
3. Great news to start the week, and it just kept getting better.
4. $2,900,000,000,000.
1. Taxpayers League Live! with David Strom.
Tune in this Saturday to AM 1280 The Patriot from 9 – 11 am when David will be joined by Marty Seifert and Bryan Caplan. Seifert, the House Minority Leader, will give us an update from the Capitol and what he and his merry band of veto sustainers are doing to protect your wallet. Caplan, author of The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies, will tell us why “the greatest obstacle to sound economic policy is not entrenched special interests or rampant lobbying, but the popular misconceptions, irrational beliefs, and personal biases held by ordinary voters.”
Also, be sure to tune in at 10:05 am for the Capitol report with Phil Krinkie. Up this week, what else? The final hours of the 2007 Legislative Session and what taxpayers can expect from their elected representatives.
2. Abandon hope all ye who enter here, negotiations are taking place.
So the Governor and Legislative leaders are meeting in round-the-clock negotiations to try and avoid another special session. What possible outcomes can we expect? Rather than putting together a well-researched and thoughtful account of possible legislative outcomes, let’s take a look at what Las Vegas has predicted:
3:1 – Governor Pawlenty and House Republicans continue their thumping of the Minneapolis/St. Paul liberal agenda and taxpayers are finally able to breathe easy (except for that statewide smoking ban).
5:1 – Governor Pawlenty, feeling bad about pummeling the liberals for the last 5 weeks, offers a few minor concessions (like Hot Tamales, Twix and Skittles).
9:1 – Lobbyists representing the teachers’ union storm Senator Pogemiller’s office and demand he dance the Macarena in atonement for somehow losing with such massive legislative majorities (Ehhhh, Macarena!).
18:1 – House and Senate legislators from the Iron Range start pelting their respective leaders with taconite pellets every time they step out of their homes (this may have already happened, but here at the Taxpayers League we only deal in substantiated facts).
50:1 – Speaker Kelliher breaks down in tears while giving an Evita-like performance after the final vote on Governor Pawlenty’s “no new taxes” budget (Don’t cry for me, tax-and-spenders. The truth is I was in over my head).
200:1 – Income and sales tax proposals pass, property tax rebate checks are sent out and just for good measure Zygi Wilf is strapped to the Hiawatha light rail line and sent back to New Jersey.
Bonus to anyone brave enough to lineup a three-way parlay for a big money win.
3. Two more vetoes and two more wins for Minnesotans.
The big news early in the week was Governor Pawlenty’s vetoes of the tax and transportation omnibus bills. The tax bill, which DFLers had to know was going to get axed but still decided “what the hey, let’s see if the Governor’s paying attention,” was a fantasy land concoction of good intentions, warm fuzzies and the triumph of special interests over reality. To be blunt, it couldn’t have gone down fast enough. The transportation bill on the other hand, was slightly more devious. Yes, a certain amount of money needs to be spent on maintaining our transportation infrastructure, and yes, lighting a fire under some long-delayed construction projects is a good idea. But at what cost? Is the “demand” for more transit options so great that you need to destroy America’s greatest poverty reduction tool (the automobile) to get it? How exactly does jacking up the cost of owning a car (in some cases up to $500 a year) help low income folks get themselves to work or the kids to where they’ve got to be?
And in case you don’t listen to WCCO, AM1500 or AM1280 The Patriot, make sure to click over to our website and listen to our latest radio ad opposing a gas tax increase.
4. Congressional Republicans were wasteful and kind of corrupt, but WOW! Just wow.
“Washington – Congress gave final approval on Thursday to a $2.9 trillion budget plan that promises big spending increases for education and health care and a federal surplus in five years.
“The Senate's 52-40 vote probably sets up veto confrontations with President Bush over spending increases and the fate of many of his expiring tax cuts. “Shortly before the Senate vote, the House passed the measure by a 214-209 vote without a single Republican voting for it.
“The nonbinding measure is not sent to Bush for his signature or veto. Rather, it sets parameters for Congress to follow when writing tax and spending legislation later this year.
“The blueprint for the budget year that begins Oct. 1st also makes a statement about Democrats' differences with Bush and was seen as a critical test of Democrats' ability to govern.
“The budget plan seeks to bolster domestic programs whose budgets the president has curbed. It also would let expire tax cuts that have greatly benefited upper-bracket taxpayers.”
The Taxpayers League of Minnesota's E Update is written by Mark Giga
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