Dear Neighbor,
The House is now operating at a 67-67 tie, with a May 19 deadline to pass a new two-year state budget and other important legislative items and adjourn on time.
Could we do it in orderly fashion? Sure. Could this session also be a train wreck? Sure. The one thing we can say with certainty is it will get interesting down the stretch. For the time being, most of the legislation we expect to vote on as a full body is smaller in scope with broad, bipartisan appeal – the proverbial low-hanging fruit.
There was one notable exception to that mode of operation this week when House Republicans brought to the floor a bill that would allow citizens to decide if a portion of future budget surpluses should be returned to taxpayers. The bill (H.F. 4) establishes the Minnesota Tax Relief Fund, which would set aside over-collected revenue and return it to Minnesota taxpayers.
The state has a track record of vastly over-collecting from Minnesota taxpayers and, when that is the case, families and businesses deserve meaningful relief. In 2023, Democrats kept the people’s money and went on a spending spree, increasing the state budget by 40 percent and raising taxes by $10 billion along the way.
In short, Democrats overtaxed Minnesotans, kept their money, spent their money and now drove our state to a $6 billion shortfall – all while leaving taxpayers on the hook in perpetuity for a massive expansion of government.
That can’t happen again. This bill makes sure it won’t but, unfortunately, Democrats shot it down, 67-67 on a party-line vote.
House Democrats made one thing abundantly clear during debate of this bill: They do not view Minnesota taxpayers’ money as belonging to Minnesota taxpayers. All of their amendments, for the most part, were efforts to do the exact opposite of what House File 4 was designed to do. Instead, Democrats wanted to use any surplus to automatically increase government spending,
It reminds me of when I was first elected in 2022 and went through new-member orientation. We were all in a classroom together, Democrats and Republicans alike, when news broke of an $18 billion state budget surplus for 2023-24.
The Democrats literally cheered and high-fived at the news because, to them, it meant they would be able to spend more of your money. To the Democrats, a surplus means they already got your money in what amounts to a backdoor tax increase. And, with full control of the Capitol in 2023-24, they knew they could carry out their spending spree without obstruction.
Now, here we are today. Democrats spent your money, raised your taxes and have us all staring down the barrel of a historic shortfall, but apparently didn’t learn any lessons. They continue to talk about the need to raise even more taxes at a time Minnesota families and businesses are strapped. That’s why it is important to pass safeguards protecting taxpayers from future overreach and promoting financial accountability in state government.
Except Democrats don’t want that. They don’t want a dummy light to come on, signaling to taxpayers they took too much of your money and it’s time to send it back. So they voted down H.F. 4, escaping accountability and serving the radical leftists instead of doing what most Minnesotans want.
If this sounds familiar, it should, because it’s consistent with today’s Democrat agenda that prioritizes activists over the general public’s interests.
Sincerely,
Walter