Dear neighbor,
On Wednesday we received some good news from the Minnesota Department of Management and Budget. The State of Minnesota has brought in $463 million more revenue than estimated in the 2013 February Forecast. June 2013 was the final month operating under the Republican budget which contained no tax increases.
With this surplus from the budget enacted by the Republican-controlled legislature, the state will now have paid back the entire aid shift from previous legislatures plus begin to make a down payment on paying off the DFL property tax recognition shift. Please do not be fooled by what you may hear DFL legislators say about the budget and the education shift. The DFL-majority did not pay down the education shift. Instead, they shifted $50 million in the 2013 education finance bill.
The bottom line is that the budget passed by Republicans in the legislature in 2011 has worked. In January of 2011 as Republicans came into the majority in both chambers of the legislature, the state was facing a $6.2 billion deficit for fiscal years 2012-2013 with the biennium ending on June 30, 2013. We were able to do the hard work of balancing the budget and funding our priorities without raising taxes by restraining the growth of automatic spending increases and finding efficiencies in government.
Now, we’ve seen the fruits of our labor. Because we did not impose tax increases on Minnesota families, we encouraged productivity and allowed our state’s economy to thrive. It’s evident that Democrats in the legislature needlessly and recklessly imposed a $2.1 billion tax increase on every single man, woman, and child in Minnesota without regard for the consequences to our state’s economy.
ANDOVER FAMILY FUN FEST
Please stop by the Bingo Tent at the Andover Family Fun Fest this evening and Saturday evening, where I will be volunteering, and say hello.
I hope you had a wonderful Independence Day celebration with your family. Enjoy this beautiful summer weather!
I am always interested in your feedback. Please feel free to contact me by e-mail at Rep.Peggy.Scott@House.MN or contact my office at 651-296-4231. You can also send me mail to my office address: 201 State Office Building, 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55155.