Earlier this week, NTU sent a letter to members of the Minnesota
Legislature, urging them to reject tax hikes in the wake of a controversial
ruling by the Minnesota Supreme Court concerning the governor's authority to
"unallot" or rescind some spending. We wrote:
"The Minnesota Supreme Court's recent ruling on Gov. Pawlenty's unallotment
authority should serve as a wake-up call for the state of Minnesota to
reduce spending, not as an excuse to raise taxes on hard-working families in
the midst of a recession. While millions of Minnesotans struggle to make
ends meet, their state government has created a budget deficit of $3
billion. Rather than rely on a punitive increase in the state income tax,
legislators should trim back spending to alleviate this fiscal burden.
Raising the state¹s top income tax rate to 9.15 percent would penalize small
business owners and professionals, creating a powerful incentive for them to
leave the state altogether."
"While some insist that rolling back expenditures would devastate vital
services, a $3 billion reduction would leave the state with roughly the same
amount of money to spend as it did in 2007. Surely no one would argue that
Minnesota was drastically worse off then, especially considering that the
unemployment rate was almost three full percentage points lower that year
than it is today. Carefully taking a scalpel to the budget to return it to a
condition seen just a few years ago will not cripple the state; rather, it
will be restored to fiscal health without bleeding taxpayers for more
money."
The Legislature and the Governor remain at odds over how to resolve the
budget gap. Rest assured, NTU will continue to watch this situation to
protect our members and other overburdened taxpayers in Minnesota.