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Taxpayers League of Minnesota eUpdate
1. David’s guests this week are Tom Emmer and Mickey Edwards.
2. Metro counties agree on “Joint Taxpayer Fleecing Board.”
3. Not enough new taxes for you? Don’t worry, Congress is after you, too.
4. “Imagine for a moment that you are a small Minnesota manufacturer.”
5. No need to keep the devil down in the hole. Send him to college for free.
1. The David Strom Show presented by the Minnesota Free Market Institute.
Tune in this Saturday to AM 1280 The Patriot at 9:15 am when David will be joined by State Representative Tom Emmer. Rep. Emmer this will tell us about the recent problems with the negotiations over the bonding bill and why union organizers are apparently not welcome in Lori Swanson’s AG office.
At 10 am, David’s guest will be Mickey Edwards, a former Congressman and founding trustee of the Heritage Foundation, will talk about his new book, Reclaiming Conservatism: How a Great American Political Movement Got Lost--And How It Can Find Its Way Back.
Also, be sure to tune in at 9:45 am for the Capitol report with Phil Krinkie. Up this week, the taxing and spending continues…
2. Metro counties agree on “Joint Taxpayer Fleecing Board.”
As we mentioned last week, a provision in the $6.6 billion Transportation bill will leave it up to each of the seven metro area county boards to determine whether they will exercise their option to increase local sales tax rates by a ¼ cent to pay for transit [read: train] projects. This week’s Star Tribune saw articles that gave hope to taxpayers on Wednesday then dashed those hopes of accountability on Thursday.
On Wednesday in an article titled “Small counties not sold on new tax,” reports from meetings held by Carver and Scott counties showed little interest in levying new taxes for a $100 million slush fund that would most likely be controlled by Hennepin and Ramsey county. Said Carver County Commissioner Tim Lynch, “I think this is a trying time for a lot of people. I just don’t know if this is the correct time to implement this tax.” Sounds like common sense to me.
Then on Thursday we find that “Metro counties settle on sales-tax plan.” At issue here is a proposal led by Hennepin and Ramsey county officials to limit the influence of Governor Pawlenty’s Met Council representatives by restricting their number of votes on the to-be-created “Joint Powers Board” (a move which is vaguely reminiscent of FDRs1937 court-packing scheme).
Like I mentioned last week, folks in Hennepin and Ramsey counties probably don’t have much of a chance of stopping yet another tax increase. But for those of you not living in the Land of (fiscally) Lost, you’ve still got time to let your county commissioners know who you feel about tax increases:
Anoka County
Carver County
Dakota County
Hennepin County
Ramsey County
Scott County
Washington County
3. Not enough new taxes for you? Don’t worry, Congress is after you, too.
From the Editors at National Review:
“When it comes to the Democrats and taxes, it’s important to look at what they do, not what they say. Very few congressional Democrats possess the candor to admit that they are in favor of letting the Bush tax cuts expire, yet for the second year in a row the Democrats have put forward a budget resolution that assumes rates will snap back to their previous levels. This would constitute a $683 billion tax hike over five years [bolding added].
“The Democrats’ budget is just as noticeable for what it leaves out. There is no attempt to address the looming entitlement crisis, as Medicare and Social Security obligations balloon in response to the retirement of the first baby boomers. There is no solution to the problem of earmarks, which allow members of Congress to direct funds to pet projects with little transparency or accountability. And there is no long-term fix to protect the middle class from the Alternative Minimum Tax, a tax designed to keep the rich from claiming too many deductions but which now sneaks up on a growing number of families with average incomes because it was never indexed for inflation.”
To read the rest, click here. So how much will $683 billion in tax increases cost you? Would you believe $3,087.56 per taxpayer between 2011 and 2017?
4. “Imagine for a moment that you are a small Minnesota manufacturer.”
Many of you know all too well the burden that is faced by small business owners in this state. While over 90% of firms in Minnesota employ fewer than 100 people, a declining national economy and our own confiscatory tax policy can almost lead one to believe that some bureaucrats and a majority of state legislators think that money grows on trees. Case in point, the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP) 21st annualComparative Tax Study. The study, which looks at the effective property tax rate paid by Minnesota businesses, ranks our state’s property tax burden as the highest in our immediate region for a typical light manufacturing company.
So while state legislators fiddle with a billion dollar bonding bill that will put a few contactors to work for the couple of months it takes to build another convention center or pave the state’s 357,291st mile of park trail, the people that provide real, long term jobs are left to board up the shop and move on.
5. No need to keep the devil down in the hole. Send him to college for free.
Got a few squirrely teens that just can’t seem to keep themselves out of trouble? Then send them to college gratis - thanks to taxpayers, of course. That’s the plan coming from a Maryland state delegate who would like to see “committed juveniles under the age of 21 be eligible for free tuition at any public institution in the state.” Because that’s exactly what today’s troubled youth need. An environment of permissiveness and foolishness with thousands of other young people with a lot of free time and money on their hands. Nope, I can’t see anything going wrong with this plan.
The Taxpayers League of Minnesota's eUpdate is written by Mark Giga
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