Hello from St. Paul,
This week, I introduced a bill that would provide a huge funding infusion into state road and bridge needs without raising anyone’s taxes.
The legislation would specify that all revenues raised from the auto part sales tax be dedicated to Minnesota’s transportation needs.
Why the need? Check out the photo below. So many people think transportation takes up a significant portion of the state’s general fund spending, yet in reality it is only .9%
Currently a portion of the auto parts sales tax is used for transportation purposes, but the rest is shipped to Minnesota’s General Fund, where it can be used on anything. This bill would send 100% of the sales tax on automobile parts to Minnesota’s transportation needs – the overwhelming majority of it for roads and bridges - but a small amount would also be dedicated to transit with the hopes that it might help the legislation gain bipartisan support.
Transportation is a core function of government, and we should be treating it as such. Best of all, we have the money to do this without raising taxes.
On Monday, Minnesota House Democrats approved $4 million in new funding for Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office for the nondescript purpose of “enhanced criminal enforcement and related initiatives.” When the bill was originally introduced it specified that the money would be used for violent crime and hiring prosecutors, but all that was amended out for generic language.
We tried to amend the bill to put it back in its original form so this money would be used to prosecute violent crimes – which were up 22% in 2021 - and dealing with rampant fraud. This bill would have been easy to support in its original form, but I don’t trust Keith Ellison to go after violent crime as he has spent the bulk of his time in office on highly politicized lawsuits against businesses and other states. I hope I am wrong about that.
The bill passed on a party line vote.
Have a good weekend,
Nolan