Rep. Wills (57B) Needs to Get Facts Right And Partisanship Out

Iby Dave Mindeman

In the local Patch online paper, Rep. Anna Wills (57B) blogs this:

Governor Dayton released his budget proposal this week, proposing $37.9 billion in state spending for the next two years—a 7.6% increase in spending paid for by an astonishing 11.9% increase in taxes. Governor Dayton has talked for several months about a balanced approach to the budget, so it’s puzzling that he would propose a budget that includes $3.7 billion dollars in tax increases and only $225 million dollars in cuts (a 16:1 ratio of tax increases to spending cuts). I have concerns with how his budget will affect middle-class families, job creators, and the education of our students.

Instead of working to streamline government and reduce spending, he is asking middle class families to foot the bill for billions of dollars in new spending. His budget would tax haircuts, car repairs, over-the-counter medicines, and for the first time ever, clothing.

92% of businesses in Minnesota file through individual tax returns and would be hurt by Governor Dayton’s tax hike on the “wealthiest 2%.” These businesses are our job creators, and many in the business community are worried that this proposed tax increase will cause jobs and economic activity to leave Minnesota. I firmly believe that the path to prosperity comes from fostering job-friendly policies rather than taxing small businesses and expanding the size of government.

One of my top priorities is paying back the school shift—a priority that has been supported by Republicans and Democrats alike with members of both parties proposing legislation that would pay back most of the remaining balance of the school shift. However, Governor Mark Dayton breaks his promise to end gimmicks by delaying paying back the school shift until 2017.

The Minnesota Legislature now has the task of debating this budget proposal, and I welcome your feedback and questions as we work towards a final budget that will hopefully make Minnesota a better place to live, work, and raise a family.

OK, there are some troubling things here. (Incidently, the emphasis in bold is mine - which I will get into in a bit...)

1) This "blog" was cross posted at True North. A blog aggregator for very partisan, conservative bloggers. State Representatives are often quoted here but seldom actually blog directly to the site. At least not while serving a House constituency.

2) Ms. Wills notes that the Dayton budget has tax programs that increase revenue by $3.7 billion. But she fails to mention the offsets of the property tax rebate and the LOWER corporate income tax. And the additional $25 million reduction in corporate property taxes. Which puts the net tax increase in the $2 billion range. (Which probably puts the ration at about 9-1 if that makes her feel better - which I doubt).

3) In addition we have a very simple math problem. Again, the highlighted portion:

92% of businesses in Minnesota file through individual tax returns and would be hurt by Governor Dayton’s tax hike on the “wealthiest 2%.” These businesses are our job creators, and many in the business community are worried that this proposed tax increase will cause jobs and economic activity to leave Minnesota.

Logic: If the tax hike occurs for 2% of Minnesota, how can 92% of business filers be affected?

Now, these business filers (small business) do create jobs. But few of them reach the level of income that allows them to be affected by Dayton's income tax bracket. They plow their profits into the business and seek to grow. They don't worry about income taxes - because they don't actually have a lot of income to be affected. Ms. Wills has it completely and logically wrong.

4) While it is encouraging to see that Ms. Wills places such a high priority of paying back the school shift (if only her Republican colleagues had not been so eager to utilize it as a budget balancing tool), it is disappointing that she doesn't mention the new investments in education that the Dayton budget proposes in exchange for the one biennium delay in paying off that shift. If our 57B representative would be able to look forward a little more (something that her Republican colleagues have a problem with as well), she will see that over the next 4 years, education funding will see a surge in investment that has eluded us over the last decade.

Rep. Anna Wills is a freshman representative for District 57B. I know she is eager to make her mark. But if you are going to represent ALL of the people in the district, it would be prudent to look more for common ground and talk about that, rather than promote more partisan talking points.

We will continue to watch Rep. Wills and hope for progress in the future.