{"id":441,"date":"2011-02-16T19:28:51","date_gmt":"2011-02-17T01:28:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nathanhunstad.com\/blog\/?p=441"},"modified":"2011-02-16T19:30:17","modified_gmt":"2011-02-17T01:30:17","slug":"daytons-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nathanhunstad.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/daytons-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"Dayton’s budget"},"content":{"rendered":"

Governor Dayton released his budget<\/a> yesterday. It was essentially the budget that he campaigned on: higher income taxes on the richest 5% of Minnesotans (who aren\u2019t paying their fair share in state taxes<\/a> in the first place), protections against property taxes increases by not slashing LGA to the bone, more K-12 education spending, and no draconian cuts to health care. Nobody should have been surprised by this budget, as it reflects his vision for Minnesota as he has often described it.<\/p>\n

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Predictably, the Republicans who are in charge of the legislature are saying it is \u201cdetached from reality<\/a>\u201d. However, they have yet to release the details of their budget proposal, which they say will not rely on new state revenues. As for property taxes, they pretend to wash their hands of them<\/a>. The fact that the Minnesota Department of Revenue says that LGA cuts lead directly to property tax increases<\/a> is one of those inconvenient truths that are best left ignored.<\/p>\n

What can\u2019t be ignored, because it is the stark reality, is the state of the MN budget. I touched on this last year<\/a> apropos of Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer\u2019s budgetary beliefs; although Emmer lost, the Republicans who took over the legislature are govern by and large in his image. Again, the quick rundown: 40% of the General Fund budget is K-12 education, 30% is health care, 10% is LGA, 10% is higher education, 10% the rest (corrections, public safety, ag, environment, the works). With a more than $6 billion budget deficit, if you are going to eschew new state revenue, you have a few options: cut funding for schools, throw granny out of the nursing home and poor people off health care, cut aid to cities and raise property taxes, raise tuition at the U of M and MnSCU schools, or just forget about our parks and prisons. None of those sound particularly good, which is why Republicans aren\u2019t exactly champing at the bit to lay out their own budget hacks to Minnesotans.<\/p>\n

Dayton\u2019s budget isn\u2019t perfect, but at least it lays out a vision for Minnesota that I can believe in: a Minnesota where the things we cherish, such as education, health care, the environment, and keeping a lid on property taxes, are prioritized. A Minnesota that acknowledges that the very wealthiest in this state haven\u2019t been pulling their weight when compared to the middle class. A Minnesota that emphasizes community and mutual aid, instead of a playground king-of-the-hill fight. Whatever the Republican budget plan turns out to be, I can guarantee it\u2019s not going to represent a Minnesota that I believe in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Governor Dayton released his budget yesterday. It was essentially the budget that he campaigned on: higher income taxes on the richest 5% of Minnesotans (who aren\u2019t paying their fair share in state taxes in the first place), protections against property taxes increases by not slashing LGA to the bone, more K-12 education spending, and no… Continue reading Dayton’s budget<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[66],"class_list":["post-441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-budget","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t