Great to see so many people from home continue coming to St. Paul to discuss a wide variety of issues. This week included office meetings with people representing the local American Bikers for Awareness, Training, and Education organization (above) and area townships (below). Thanks again for coming to lend your input!
Dear Neighbor,
Minnesotans had reason to preview the 2023 legislative session with optimism.
Even if the landscape of power in St. Paul wasn’t the way many of us would prefer, there was still bipartisan agreement on some of the big-ticket issues and room for great work to occur, benefiting all Minnesotans.
Democrats in the House majority said last fall they shared House Republican positions on key subjects. They touted tax relief, including eliminating the state tax on social security, and advocated for investments in public safety to tamp down violent crime, for example.
Even Gov. Walz had admitted we need to balance out revenues with state spending. I say, with a $17.6 billion surplus, it’s either now or never to provide overtaxed Minnesotans with historic, permanent relief.
It is unfortunate the first month of the 2023 session has looked dramatically different from what we had hoped. Instead of finding issues where there is common ground, knocking out solutions and moving on to more challenging subjects, Democrats in St. Paul have taken the complete opposite approach, running their most extreme bills through the process first with little discussion and zero consideration for worthy amendments proposed by the minority.
In just one month, House Democrats pushed on Minnesotans the most extreme abortion policy in the nation, advanced a series of anti-Second Amendment bills, and approved legislation allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain the same Class D state driver’s license as Minnesotans who choose not to apply for Real ID or an enhanced version. Along the way, they passed a Blackout Bill which increases consumer energy prices, reduces power reliability and ultimately compromises safety.
And that’s just the start of the extreme policy while we’re still waiting for any movement from the majority on tax relief. We don’t have to wait for the whole budget process to play out to end Minnesota’s tax on Social Security. That could have passed the first week of the session, given the bipartisan support and the majority’s apparent eagerness to fast-track bills.
It will be interesting to see what House Democrats propose when they release their budget plan. “Interesting” is the operative word here, in the most “Minnesota Nice” way possible. Let’s just hope it is significantly better than what Gov. Walz proposes.
Tax hikes of any kind should be completely off the table with a $17.6 billion surplus and we should be doing all we can to return this money to Minnesotans. Instead of taking that approach, the governor proposes raising a whole host of taxes and fees in order to increase state spending by more than 25 percent. It’s roughly $13 billion more in new, permanent state spending.
One of the more over-the-top tax increases the governor proposes would raise your tab fee to 160 percent of the manufacturer’s suggested retail price of the car. In other words, if you buy a $30,000 car, the governor wants to tax you for a $48,000 car – a difference in the hundreds of dollars.
We can only hope the state surplus has not been misinterpreted by Democrats who have a trifecta of power in St. Paul. This massive surplus should come with an acknowledgement our government has taxed Minnesotans too much. This surplus is anything but a license to radically increase spending.
The optimist in me says Democrats will come around in the end and recognize they have a responsibility to do what’s right for all Minnesotans instead of catering to the radical fringe. The realist in me says Minnesotans are in for a rough ride with the extreme positions Democrats are taking this session.
Time will tell how things shake out between now and when the session adjourns in late May.
Sincerely,
Jeff