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When you walk into the voting booth this November you will not only get to decide who you want as the next President, you will have the opportunity to decide if you want to pay an additional sales tax.
On the ballot in November there is a constitutional amendment to increase the state sales tax by 3/8 of a percent. If the amendment passes it would hike the state's sales tax to 6.875%. But wait...if you live in Minneapolis or St. Paul, you already pay 7% in sales tax, because of the local sales tax imposed by many cities in the State.
Oops, I forgot about the transit sales tax that just went into effect July 1st in five metro counties. That's another 1/4% in additional taxes, bringing the total sales tax up to 7.25% in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Then of course, we shouldn't forget about the ballpark tax in Hennepin County, that's another .15%, bringing the grand sales tax total in Minneapolis up to 7.4%. Wait, remember, that tax could still grow by adding the 3/8 percent for the arts and outdoor entertainment.
Let's see. We have the basic sales tax, the ballpark tax, the transit tax, the convention center tax, and now potentially, the arts and outdoor tax that adds up to 7.715 percent tax in Minneapolis. But it's just a small tax increase, on top of a small tax increase on top of a small tax increase on top of the 6.5% sales tax.
Now that we know what the sales tax rate would be, let's move on to how much we would all pay if there are enough foolish people in the State to vote for a tax increase. It seems like just a few pennies, supporters claim "its only $1 a week", but pennies add up - it totals$275 million per year, and if you multiply that times 25 years (the duration of the tax increase) with a modest inflation factor of three percent you now have a whopping $11 billion tax increase.
But the real question about this constitutional tax increase is why is it on the ballot in the first place? The legislature didn't let us vote on the ballpark tax. We didn't get to vote on the transit tax. We didn't get to vote on the gas tax. Why do we get to vote on the arts and outdoor recreation tax?
The simple answer is that the only way the special interest groups that support this tax increase can be guaranteed that all of the $11 billion will be spent on their pet projects is to have the tax revenue dedicated through an amendment to the State's constitution.
The original proposal was only to dedicate a small portion of the existing sales tax revenue, but this idea failed year after year to gain enough legislative support to become law. After years of stalemate at the Capitol, dedicated funding supporters took an old cliché and gave it a new twist... "If you can't beat'em, buy em off." So that's what they did. The outdoor recreation folks joined with the arts and cultural heritage supporters to craft an $11 billion pork barrel spending program that would gain legislative support in addition to support from over 200 special interest groups that have joined forces to support passage of the amendment.
What this means is that November 4th when you go to cast your vote for President you will also be afforded the opportunity to vote on a tax increase. The supporters of the tax increase claim they will spend $4 million to $6 million to convince you that paying another $300 million a year in taxes is a good thing for you and your neighbors.
Just think for a moment before you vote about all the taxes the Legislature has imposed without asking for your approval. This time you get to decide.
Do you really want to pay an additional tax of top of the gas tax, the car registration tax, the ballpark tax, the transit tax, the phone tax and your property tax?
Finally you, get to put a stop to the state legislature's pick pocket approach to increasing taxes on everything that they can get their hands on. This November you get to decide if you want to pay more in taxes. Maybe it's time you told the politicians to keep their hands off your wallet. |
