eUpdate - 1/4/08

Why donate to the Taxpayers League of Minnesota?

Because without your support this year Minnesotans would have seen billions of dollars in new taxes or worse, a prolonged and destructive special legislative session that would have sent our national tax ranking back into the top ten.

But with your help, the Taxpayers League and a small group of conservatives were able to hold back the liberal tax and spend agenda. You know the liberals will be back when the Legislature reconvenes in February. And you know they will make another attempt to make Minnesota's income tax rate the highest in the nation. So until then we need to prepare for their next assault - we need to make sure that Minnesota taxpayers can rest easy knowing their life, liberty and property are safe for few more months.

Over the last ten years, the Taxpayers League of Minnesota has been at the center of the struggle to keep taxpayers from giving an ever greater share of their hard earned money to government. We can't claim to have won every fight, but ask yourself this: without the Taxpayers League, who would do the fighting?

If you're a past supporter and are coming back to help us again, thank you. And if you're a new supporter of the Taxpayers League, welcome. Your help is absolutely critical to our efforts as we promote a responsible agenda in Minnesota. But please stay tuned. The tax grab never stops.

As always, we are delighted to call you a friend of the taxpayer.

eUpdate - 1/4/08

Taxpayers League of Minnesota eUpdate

1. The David Strom Show presented by the Minnesota Free Market Institute.
2. Republicans lose a Senate seat.
3. Higher income earners already pay a greater share of the tax burden.
4. What the hell happened in Iowa?
5. Give us your feedback.

1. The David Strom Show presented by the Minnesota Free Market Institute.
Tune in this Saturday to AM 1280 The Patriot from 9 – 11 am when David will be joined by Tony Sutton, co-hair of Mitt Romney’s Minnesota campaign, and Peter Hong, a Mike Huckabee staffer who just returned from Iowa.

2. Republicans lose a Senate seat.
Last night, voters in Senate District 25 elected Northfield teacher Kevin Dahle to fill the vacated seat of Tom Neuville – who was recently appointed to a judgeship by Governor Pawlenty. The loss of the Senate seat is especially painful to Senate Republicans who have now given Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller a veto-proof majority on his end of the Capitol.
So congrats to Minnesota’s newest State Senator, Kevin Dahle. Just imagine all the wonderful stories you’ll be able to tell your students about your time in the State Legislature. It’ll be a little bit like being back in high school, I think. You’ll be told where to sit, you won’t be able to speak unless spoken too, there are bullies all over the place and at the end of the day any decision you make will have to be approved by your “mother” (in your case, Education Minnesota).

3. Higher income earners already pay a greater share of the tax burden.
Back on December 17th, the Wall Street Journal ran an editorial under the heading “Taxes and Income” that highlighted some tax numbers recently released by the Congressional Budget Office (I’d link to the article for you but the folks at WSJ are good capitalists and make you pay for their content). The CBO numbers show that the richest 1% of Americans paid 39% of all income taxes collected in 2005 while the richest 5% paid almost 60%! (which is up from 44% in 1990). SIXTY PERCENT! So what to make of these numbers? Well for one, I think we can just about put aside any talk of further income tax increases – though my guess is that the liberals’ Government Policies 101 textbooks probably haven’t been updated since the Johnson administration. But maybe, just maybe, liberals – particularly Minnesota liberals – are starting to figure out that sooner or later the “rich” aren’t going to be able to shoulder any more of the tax burden. What evidence do I have of this? Take a look at this flyer that the Taxpayers League produced during the 2007 legislative session. Of course we highlight the income tax increases that were being proposed. But when you look at all the tax increase proposals as a whole, the truly regressive nature of what the DFL was trying to inflict on Minnesotans starts to show. Years and years of whining about an unfair tax system that supposedly benefits only Minnesota’s wealthiest may finally be catching up with the left in this state.
The moral of the story is this: don’t ever let anyone tell you that the “rich” aren’t paying their fair share of taxes in this country…or this state.

4. What the hell happened in Iowa?
If you’re a fiscal conservative, not only did last night’s results of the Iowa caucuses kick you in the shins, depending on your political party of choice, your dog may have gotten kicked, too. Either we’re going to suffer four years of audacious “hope” and “change” and “renewal” and blah, blah, blah. Or we’ll get the “kinder, gentler machine-gun hand” of Big Brother and a President that wants to love us. Either way, here’s hoping that New Hampshire can right the ship and give us at least one candidate who understands the proper role of government in America.

5. Give us your feedback. Seriously, we care.
So let us know. Are there stories that we’re missing? Do you have a question, comment or concern? Normally, we receive replies each week that run the gamut from tax policy questions and how to find certain kinds of government data to “when are you guys going to pack it up and go home?” So thanks for the reading the eUpdate. And if you find yourself with nothing to do on a Friday afternoon click over to our website and learn yourself some fiscal conservatism.

The Taxpayers League of Minnesota's eUpdate is written by Mark Giga

The Taxpayers Legaue of Minnesota

A non-partisan, non-profit grassroots taxpayer advocacy organization for Minnesota