Friends and Neighbors,
As we move forward with the budget setting process for our next two-year cycle, I am constantly reminded of the abuse that took place by a legislative Democrat majority and Governor Walz during the last budget cycle.
What we needed to do with an $18 billion budget surplus was to give struggling Minnesotans significant and permanent tax relief and invest in the core services that government is expected to provide its citizens. Instead, Democrats wasted that historic surplus, raised taxes by another $10 million besides, and grew state government spending by nearly 40%.
Their priority was increasing the size of government, creating new state agencies and putting thousands of new employees on the payroll. Their priority was promoting DEI initiatives. Their priority was to pass dozens of new regulations that make it more difficult to do business in this state.
The results of these actions are now hitting us hard. Essential services for Minnesotans are in dire straits, from nursing homes to mental health programs. Schools are cutting staff and teachers in order to stay afloat. An already bloated government exploded substantially in size.
CAUSES OF DEMOCRAT DEFICIT MUST BE ADDRESSED IN UPCOMING BUDGET
This week in our human services committee, we heard testimony from people around the state telling us that they are losing money and benefits, and that county governments are being turned upside down trying to follow these new state ultimatums.
While the Senate Democrat majority is currently discussing tax increases to help address the budget shortfall, the reality is after raising taxes by more than $10 billion last session, they can’t go deeper. But Democrats also don’t want to admit their mistakes, so they want to shift many of the state’s financial problems down to the county level. This means taxpayers can take another financial hit, this time at the local level, where property tax increases could range between 4.5% to as much as 35% depending on the county and the overall cost.
Folks, this is runaway state government at its worst. A total lack of prioritization of essential services and passing the buck to someone else when it can no longer fund everything it wants.
Our current state government spending is unsustainable, and a projected $6 billion deficit is proof. Democrat decisions from last session have really set us up for a difficult shortfall. Our goal going forward must be to right-size state government spending without raising taxes, eliminating many of the unfunded mandates that are devastating local governments, and preventing the outlandish costs of recent state government spending from being passed down to the county level.