Dear Friends,
There are some great events taking place in our community this weekend. Sinclair Lewis Days kicked off in Sauk Centre on Wednesday and runs through Sunday. You can see the full program of events here. The Traveling Tree House is also making several stops within Douglas County throughout the week. This program provides free summer learning opportunities for kids aged Pre K – Elementary. No registration is required and you can learn more information here and here.
A $352 Million Oopsie!
You might have heard about a major “oopsie” the Democrats recently found in their Tax bill. Despite a $17.5 billion surplus at the start of session, Democrats voted to raise your taxes by nearly $10 billion. However, that number will actually be greater (by a mere $352 million) if they do not fix a mistake that will result in higher taxes for 76% of Minnesotans.
The good news is there is time to fix this problem. This mistake only impacts tax returns starting in the 2024 tax year. Both Democrat Tax chairs have pledged to fix this issue.
As the Departments and taxpayers continue to review the bills, more mistakes will probably be found. Democrats seemed to be focused on becoming national leaders on their “bold, progressive” agenda to “transform” our state rather than making sure they got it right the first go around. Session begins February 12th and with that, mistakes will hopefully be fixed.
A Tale of Two States
A recent study from Johns Hopkins found that Texas had nearly 10,000 more babies born in the year following the state’s passage of a more restrictive abortion bill. The new Texas law, passed in 2021, bans abortions after 6 weeks with very few exceptions. This is wonderful news and shows the beauty of fostering a culture of life!
Unfortunately, in Minnesota we are quickly becoming a destination for abortions. The extreme abortion laws passed by the Democrats last session put our state’s laws on par with radical regimes like North Korea and China. We no longer have guardrails to protect women and babies which makes us an outlier not only in the U.S., but also in the western world. It is disheartening to know that Minnesota will never have positive headlines like Texas’s joyful news of 10,000 more precious lives brought into the world.