Dear Neighbors,
We have entered the final month of the 2023 legislative session and much of our days have been spent on the House Floor debating and voting on massive omnibus budget bills. As always, the debates are passionate as we continue to fight against out-of-control spending and radical policies being proposed by the House Democrat majority.
The overall budget picture has been crystalized since my last Koznick Connection and I am disappointed to report that Gov. Walz and Democrats are looking to increase overall government spending by 40%, bringing the budget from $52 billion in 2021 to $72 billion this year. Additionally, they are spending the entirety of the $17.5 billion budget surplus and have proposed nearly $10 billion in tax and fee increases.
Such an astounding increase in spending is reckless and unsustainable! I am concerned that this 40% budget increase will set us up for deficits and cuts in the future. The tax increases are unacceptable at a time when we should be returning the state’s historic budget surplus to Minnesota taxpayers. Instead, they plan to spend the entirety of the surplus with little to no tax relief to help deal with inflation.
Transportation Bill Runs Over Metro Families
Today the House debated and approved the Transportation Omnibus Budget Bill. As the name implies, this bill deals with transportation-related funding and policy. For a variety of reasons, this bill was an easy “NO” vote for Minnesotans.
We have several concerns with this bill, chief among them is that it raises transportation-related taxes by nearly $3.56 billion while wasting more of your money on the Met Council’s transit projects. Again, with a $17.5 billion budget surplus and over $2 billion in reserves, there is no need to raise your taxes.
Here are some of the proposed taxes in the bill:
- Metro Area Sales Tax Increase (.75%) totaling more than $2 billion.
- $513 million via a new “delivery” tax that would impact Amazon deliveries, DoorDash, Pizza shops, and everything in between.
- $736 million in Auto license tab fee increases.
- $215 million via a Motor Vehicle Sales Tax increase.
The bill also would include $194 million in spending to pay for a passenger train to Duluth and no requirement for Met Council to hire additional police for transit safety issues that have been a serious concern with light rail trains.
Absolutely a Spending Problem, Not A Revenue Problem
Democrats’ Tax Bill was officially released earlier this week and it is expected to come to the House Floor in the coming weeks. Yet again, Democrats are looking to significantly raise taxes on Minnesotans of all income levels. In total, their Tax Bill would increase taxes by $2.2 billion and provides very little tax relief for Minnesotans in Lakeville, Elko NM, Credit River, or our townships —including failing to provide a full exemption of social security benefits from state taxes!
The state’s $17.5 billion budget surplus makes clear that we do not have a revenue problem. Instead, Democrats need to raise nearly $10 billion in taxes to cover their pet projects and paybacks for political friends. In fact, a local paper in Detroit Lakes reported on my comments during a committee meeting about tax increases. You can read that story here. You can watch those comments here.
More details on this bill in the weeks ahead.
Some Minnesota, not One Minnesota
As we are now seeing the motivation of these bills, the policy is not for a “one Minnesota”, rather it creates a divided Minnesota where some are asked to pay more for others to receive campaign paybacks. Those of us in the south metro are the ones who will be paying more and getting less.
Local Youth in Government participants, Maggie McBrady and Lizzie Tullis visited this week
I was able to share the work of the legislature with YMCA Youth in Government visitors this week.
Please know, as difficult as this session is, I appreciate your trust and support to represent our shared values. We remain committed to keep fighting and advocating for you to make our state stronger and better by standing up for our families, our freedoms, and our state’s future. We can’t give up, I won’t.
Jon Koznick
State Representative